V 


PROGRESSION; 


OB, 


THE   SOUTH    DEFENDED 


MILLIE    MAYFIELD, 


OF    NEW    ORLEANS. 


APPLEGATE   &  CO.,  PUBLISHEKS, 

43  MAIN  STREET,  CINCINNATI,  0. 

18GO. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18CO, 
BY    APPLEGATE    &    CO., 

in  tbo  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Oh.io. 


To  the  intelligent,  reasoning,  and  generous  thinkers  among 
my  countrymen  and  countrywomen — those  who  are  willing, 
with  unjaundiced  eyes  and  unprejudiced  opinions,  to  weigh  the 
South  and  her  Institutions  in  the  balance  of  Justice,  against 
fanaticism  and  error — this  volume  is  sincerely  dedicated  ;  while 
it  is  respectfully  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  all  believers 
and  admirers  of  the  monstrosities  set  forth  in  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  et  hcec  omnia  genera,  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving  and 

misleading  the  masses. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


tt  t  *  tt  t 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY 7 

CREATION 16 

THE   EARTH 35 

MAN 66 

SLAVERY 103 

THE   SOUTH 149 

VALEDICTORY 194 

NOTES  211 


PROGRESSION ; 


OB, 


THE     SOUTH    DEFENDED 


YE  lords  of  creation,  bear  with  me,  I  pray, 
While  I  point  to  the  object  that  guideth  my  lay ; 
And  ye,  my  fair  sisters,  my  visit  excuse  : 
Unushered  I  call,  but  ye  will  not  refuse 
To  receive  me  with  favor,  when  once  I  explain 
The  laudable  motives  that  prompted  my  strain. 
Would  my  pen  were  inspired  with  the  pictures  it 

paints, 
While  I  bring  to  your  notice  some  sinners  turned 

saints ! 

But  my  goose-quill  can  give  but  the  d — 1  his  due, 
And  enough  it  will  be,  for  the  tale  is  "  ower  true." 

(7) 


PROGRESSION. 


In  this  age   of  great  wonders,  of   "rights," 

"ists,"  and  "  isms," 

Of  social  o'erturns,  and  political  schisms ; 
Of  miracles  working  right  under  our  noses, 
That  shake  to  the  center  the  good  laws  of  Moses ; 
Of  wordy  tornadoes,  and  shrieking  anathema 
Pitched  into  our  teeth  and  our  faces,  ex-cathedra, 
By  raving  reformers,  a  dictating  brood, 
Who  the  laws  of  creation  would  change,  if  they 

could ; 

When  the  B — rs,  and  P  —  rs,  and  S  —  ds,  &  Co., 
"With  their  petticoat  leader,  the  sleek  Mistress  S — e ! 
Have  emptied  their  vials  of  rancor  and  spleen 
O'er  the  line,  marked  by  Mason  and  Dixon,  between 
The  South,  sunny  land — and  "free  soil!"  where 

jingles 

The  pewter  that  forms  their  religion,  which  mingles 
With  all  their  vile  stuff,  from  rank  hate  to  alloy, 
Which  freely  they  scatter  our  peace  to  destroy, 
And  under  the  cloak  of  religion,  sow  seeds 
Of  discord,  fast  ripening  to  enmity's  deeds, 
Between  the  two  races — whom  but  to  befriend, 
Is  their  motive  for  meddling,  they  vainly  pretend ; 
Then  gloat  o'er  the  warfare  their  daring  calls  forth, 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

And  from  the  cold  lips  of  the  "Rights "-ridden 

North 

Boldly  challenge  the  South  to  a  contest  of  strength 
In  a  match  with   opponents,  whose  laws  have  a 

length 
And  a  breadth  of  their  own,  paramount   to  the 

laws 

Of  their  country  ! — Then  say,  has  any  one  cause 
To  wonder  a  daughter  of  that  sunny  land, 
Most  basely  defamed  by  a  bigoted  band, 
Should  take  up  the  gauntlet,  defiantly  hurled, 
Tho'  all  bearded  creation  contemptuously  curled 
Their  indignant  mustaches,  at  womanly  knight, 
Who  the  seven-headed  beast  would  thus  valiantly 

fight? 

Yes,  land  of  my  sires,  of  my  home  and  my  love ! 
Be  mine  the  blest  portion  thy  honor  to  prove, 
Be  mine  the  dear  task  to  wipe  off  from  thy  brow 
That  plague-spot,  rogues  planted,  which  grows  on 

it  now, 

Or  their  fingers  of  falsehood  so  foully  have  traced 
Vile  calumnies,  ne'er  to  be  wholly  erased 
Till  the  sense  of  mankind  shall  awake  to  those  laws 
Which  govern  creation. 


10  PROGRESSION. 

With  reverence  I  pause, 
And  a  blessing  I  ask  from  the  great  Source  of 

Light, 

To  hallow  each  axiom  my  heart  would  indite; 
That  truth  from  my  pen  so  prophetic  may  roll, 
As  shall  carry  conviction  to  every  great  soul; 
Conviction  that  God's  laws,  unchanging  and  just, 
Shall  abide,  when  weak  man  has  resolved  his  to 

dust! 
And  those  laws.     Will  the  P — rs,  and  B — rs, 

and  S — es, 

Who,  on  ill-gotten  laurels  so  proudly  repose, 
Asserting,  "  All  men  are   born  equal ! "  but  will 

they 

Point  the  law  in  creation  which  proves  it?  or  say 
(Taking  Scripture  to  back  me),  what  meaneth  the 

story, 

That  one  star  from  another  shall  differ  in  glory  ? 
Why  not  have  them  equal,  with  splendor  supernal, 
To  shine  thro'  all  ages,  undimmed  and  eternal? 
For  one  is  a  star,  just  as  much  as  the  other — 
Pray,   why   should    the    one,   then,   outrival    his 

brother? 
And  again  (from  the  Bible  I  freely  must  quote, 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

For  pailsful  of  Scripture  Mistress  S — e  sets  afloat) 
We  are  told,  in  that  heaven  are  seraphs  who  see 
The  face  of  their  Maker  continually. 
But  it  sayeth  not  all  have  that  privilege  blest, 
Of  the  angelic  dwellers  of  that  land  of  rest! 
Then  why  should  that  God,  who  made  heaven  and 

earth ; 
From  whom  suns  and  stars  claim  their  glorious 

birth ; 

Who  fashioned  the  angels  and  cherubim  fair, 
But  made   them  not   equal — pause,  skeptic,  just 

there — 

Say,  why  should  he  make  an  exception  in  man, 
Or  alter  in  him,  the  original  plan? 

Ascending,   by   steps,   from   the   lower   types, 

brutes 

Are  marked   in  each   species  with  distinct  attri 
butes 

To  man,  walking  upright,  a  creature,  they  say, 
Just  less  than  the  angels — this  none  will  gainsay, 
Still,  the  different  species  of  men  on  the  earth 
Must  claim  the  prerogatives  stamped  them  at  birth; 
And  who  will  deny  that  to  each  has  been  given 
A  different  glory,  like  stars  in  yon  heaven? 


12  PROGRESSION. 

The  great  laws  of  God  show  distinctions.    Each 

star, 
That,  with   scintillant  splendor,  shines  out  from 

afar, 

Was  in  its  beginning  an  atom  in  space, 
Which,  step  by  step,  circled  in  ne'er-ending  race, 
Till  it  shone  out  full-orbed,  as  a  glorious  sun, 
With  its  satellite  planets,  contented,  each  one, 
As  planets  to  be,  which  with  borrowed  light  shine, 
Nor  think  themselves  suns  from  the  ray,  half  di 
vine, 
That  lights  their  dark  faces  when  touched  by  the 

beam 

Which  flows  from  their  primary  in  a  full  stream, 
But,  without  which,  the  darkness  of  ne'er-ending 

night, 

Its  somber  wings  folding,  existence  would  blight. 
'Tis  thus  in  the  vast  book  of  nature  we  read 
Great  truths,  far  above  each  sectarian  creed. 
On  its  gold-illumed  pages  unerring  we  trace, 
The  dependence  of  some  of  the  bodies  of  space 
Upon  other  orbs,  still  ranging  higher  and  higher, 
On  the  grand  chords  harmonious  of  heaven's  bright 
lyre; 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

Then,  down  to  the  earth,  where  the  baser  strings 

grate, 

No  exceptions  we  find  in  this  progressive  state. 
As  nearest   the   skies,  take   the   genus   called 

"  homo  "— 

For  earthly  progression  ranks  him  major-domo — 
Thro'  five  distinct   grades   runs   the  species,  de 
scending 

To  that,  which  the  good  book  will  tell  us  lies  end 
ing 

In  Afric's  warm  regions  of  desert  and  palm, 
First    peopled    by    Noah's    cursed     son,    yclept 

"Ham;" 
Which,  in  savage  condition,  one  degree  from  the 

brute 

Is  only  removed.     (This,  I  know,  will  not  suit 
Your  screamers  for  freedom,  and  clerical  forces, 
"Who,  astride  of  their  huge  black  republican  horses, 
Would  ride  o'er  the  neck  of  the  South,  their  great 

evil, 
In  the  name  of  the  Lord !    Freddy  D.,  and  the 

d— 1 ! ) 

Then  down  thro'  creation  we  find,  link  by  link, 
The  chain  all  unbroken.    We  adore,  while  we  think 


14  PROGRESSION. 

Of  the  wisdom  which  fashioned  each  creature  pro 
gressive, 

From  lowest  type  upward  to  man !     Inexpressive 
Are  words  in  their   meaning,  to    tell   the  whole 

story, 

How,  from  man  rising  upward  from  glory  to  glory, 
Are  angels,  and  cherubs,  and  seraphim,  singing 
The  praises  of  Him,  in  whom  all  had  beginning! 
0  Ariel !  thy  wing  I  would  borrow  from  thee  ! 
Puck,  lend  me  thy  girdle,  while  backward  I  flee 
O'er  the  mountains  of  Time,  rising  hoary  and  gray, 
Back,  back  to  the  moment  when  dawned  the  first 

day, 

When  the  glimmer  electric  rent  darkness  apart, 
And  the   first  throb   pulsated   in  Nature's  great 

heart ! 

When  Deity  spoke,  and  the  darkness  replied; 
When  his  laws  were  established,  so  fixed  to  abide, 
Till  the  circles  of  time  are  fulfilled  on  the  dial, 
And  every  created  thing,  pure  from  the  trial 
Which  tested  its  faith  in  a  fiery  ordeal, 
Has  merged  from  nonentity  into  the  real ; 
Has  acted  its  part  in  the  drama  of  life ; 
Has  basked  in  its  sunshine,  and  battled  its  strife ; 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

Has   seen,  link  by.  link,  the  chain   part,  that  to 

earth 

Binds  the  spirit,  still  looking  for  heavenly  birth, 
For  that  glorious  celestial  progression  which  love, 
Love  Divine,  has  marked  out  in  the  bright  realms 

above  ; 

When  casting  behind  it  its  fetters  of  clay. 
The  spirit,  triumphant,  soars  on  its  bright  way 
To  regions  of  light  on  the  crystalline  river 
That  laves  the  white  throne  of  our  life's,  glorious 

Giver ! 
Let  me  trace,  step  by  step,  those  most  wonderful 

laws 
Which  sprang  into  being  when  breathed  the  First 

Cause, 

And  which  govern  inanimate  objects  as  well 
As  those  warmed  with  life — tho'  no  man  can  tell 
Why  such  and  such  causes  produce  their  effects, 
Yet  that  such  the  result  is,  there's  no  one  objects. 
Let  me  show  that  the  present  condition  of  man, 
Is  but  the  result  of  an  organized  plan, 
By  superior  Intelligence  fashioned  and  made, 
Ere  Time's  corner-stone  in  creation  was  laid. 


THE  sea   of  space   was   moteless.      Systems, 

spheres, 

In  circling  marches,  marked  no  passing  years 
On  Time's  great  dial — time  was  then  unborn ; 
But,    with    the    mild,   balm-breathing,    blue-eyed 

morn, 

In  the  still  womb  of  chaos  unformed  lay, 
A  foetal  mass,  unconscious  of  to-day. 

The  universe — the  countless  orbs  that  rise 
In  golden  glory  now  o'er  burnished  skies, 
Those  stellar  monarchs  of  the  vast  domains 
Whose  fields  are  glittering  with  planet  trains, 
And  wandering  comets,  in  eccentric  lines, 
Nearing  the  throne  where  glowing  splendor  shines, 
And  every  world  that's  teeming  now  with  light 
And  life,  lay  wrapt  in  embryonic  night ! 

Nonentity  !     0  !  say,  what  mortal  eye 
May  with  a  backward  glance  thy  depths  descry — 
do) 


CREATION.  17 

What  mortal  pen  may  paint  the  somber  pall 
Which  dropped  its  darkening  shadows  over  all 
The  regions  where  glad  life  triumphant  reigns 
To-day?     For  once,  encircled  with  thy  chains, 
Each  mighty  element  that  sweeps  the  deep 
Lay  hushed  beneath  thy  touch  in  harmless  sleep ; 
The  germ  of  every  living  thing  that  springs, 
On  thy  broad  bosom  folded  silent  wings — 
And  thro'  the  lofty  aisles  around,  no  sound 
Broke  on  the  solemn  silence,  deep,  profound! 

But  now  a  pulse,  like  the  first  throb  that  tells 
Of  quickening  life,  thro'  all  thy  fibers  swells. 
Whence   comes    the    glow  that   lights    thy   ashen 

face, 

0 !  dun-browed  mother  of  a  countless  race 
Of  golden  glories  shining  thro'  all  space? 
Whence  comes  the  thrill,  coursing  thy  dark  veins 

thro', 

Whose  speed  electric  wakes  each  throb  anew 
Ere  it  expires?     The  mighty  Word  which  was 
In  the  beginning — the  great  Primal  Cause — 
Is  breathed,  and  lo!  startling  the  silence  round, 
The  fathomless  abyss  gives  back  the  sound, 
Reverberating  thro'  the  caverns  deep, 
2 


18  PROGRESSION. 

"Wakening  each  atom  from  its  pristine  sleep 
Out-speeding  thought,  it  sweeps  the  broad  aisles 

thro', 

Where  now  each  firmament  hangs  its  bann'rol  blue, 
Where  now  each  world  rolls  on  its  ceaseless  way, 
Each  sun  from  slumber  calls  the  drowsy  day. 
On,  on,  the  mighty  Word,  with  lightning  march, 
And  spell  Promethean,  ignites  the  torch 
Of  electricity,  to  work  the  will 
Of  the  Great  Architect's  supernal  skill! 

0  !  mighty  power !  what  sway  to  thee  is  given ; 
Thy  chain,  0  Electricity !  unriven, 
Spans  the  wide  earth,  circles  the  walls  of  heaven ! 
There  's  not  a  leaf  that  trembles  on  the  breeze — 
There  's  not  an  eddy  dimpling  in  the  seas — 
There's  not  a  cloudlet  floating  o'er  yon  sky, 
Or  tear-drop  welling  from  old  Nature's  eye — 
A  blade  of  grass,  a  diamond  spray  of  dew, 
But  shows   thy  mystic   footsteps   sparkling   thro'. 
Wizard !  that  forgest  thunderbolts  at  will, 
Then  peaceful  gambol'st  down  a  mountain  rill, 
Or,  leaping  from  the  dark  cloud,  with  a  flash, 
Level'st  whole  cities  with  a  deaf'ning  crash; 
Then  turn'st  next  moment  from  the  low'ring  sky 


1 

CREATION.  19 

To  light  a  thought  in  beauty's  sparkling  eye ! 
So  much  that's  gentle  with  thy  fierceness  blends, 
We  learn  to  love  thee  ere  our  terror  ends. 

Well  might  the  wakening  heart  of  nature  thrill, 
As  Slave  of  Lamp,  obedient  to  thy  will — 
When  forth,  thro'  space,  careering  in  mad  glee, 
Thou  spedst  full  wildly  on  thy  errand  free, 
And,  at  thy  call,  forth  from  his  secret  lair 
Sprang  up  the  mighty  giant  men  call  "Air." 
Like  molten  ore  looked  forth  his  glowing  eyes, 
And  hotter  still  were  breathed  his  burning  sighs, 
Till  the  gray  mist  of  space  caught  up  the  glow, 
And  fiery  vapor  filled  the  void  below. 

0!  wondrous  sight,  a  universe  all  fire! 
A  cup  wherein  was  brewed  each  vain  desire, 
Each  grief,   each    doubt,  each   love,   hate,  hope, 

fear,  joy, 

Each  mad  ambition  and  each  gilded  toy; 
Each  little  appetite,  that  leads  men  on, 
From  doubtless  good,  till  e'en  that  good  is  gone; 
Each  vanity  and  every  virtue,  here, 
From  atoms  bubbling,  sought  their  proper  sphere, 
That  each  in  turn  might  act  their  destined  part 
In  their  vast  theater,  the  living  heart! 


20  PROGRESSION. 

For  so,  from  the  beginning,  went  the  Word, 
When  its  first  whisper  fired,  and  ether  stirred. 
A  mist  of  fire !  the  glowing  warp  and  woof 
To  fashion  drapery  for  Heaven's  high  roof; 
The  loom,  the  universe:  the  weaver,  He 
At  whose  command  springs  all  things — Deity ! 
He  spake  and  it  was  done ;  to  Him,  all  time 
Is  one  eternal  NOW — 0 !  thought  sublime  ! 
The  finite  mind  shrinks  from  the  task  with  awe, 
When  it  would  measure  Him  by  mortal  law. 

Yet  ample  are  His  laws.     The  drop  of  dew 
That  hangs  a  mimic  world,  proclaims  this  true ; 
The  rounded  tear  that  falls  from  childhood's  eye, 
Is  still  a  globule,  like  yon  orb  on  high; 
The  glowing  lamp  that  lights  the  distant  sky, 
Or  the  stray  mote  that  dances  in  the  beam 
Of  the  warm  sun,  the  eddy  in  the  stream — 
The  desert's  grain  of  sand,  the  pebble  small, 
Proclaim  the  mighty  Hand  that  fashioned  all. 
From  worlds  to  meaner  things,  one  form  gave  He, 
That  man  might  thence  learn  meek  humility  ! 
Not  to  despise  weak  atoms,  for  from  these 
Worlds  sprang  to  light,  as  from  small  drops  spring 
seas  ! 


CREATION.  21 

0 !  most  sublime  in  their  simplicity, 
These  never-failing  laws  of  Deity. 

Thus,  in  yon  mist  of  fire,  bright  spots  now  gleam, 
Like  diamond  dust  they  sparkle  in  the  beam 
Electric  playing  o'er  them.     Nuclei  these, 
Atomic  drops  of  planetary  seas, 
Which,  true  to  laws  presiding  at  their  birth, 
Rotate  as  surely  as  the  full-grown  earth ; 
And  still  accumulating  as  they  go, 
Collect  new  forces  from  the  depths  below, 
Above,  around  them  (everywhere  we  view 
The  one  pervading  principle  as  true 
At  work,  of  like  attracting  like),  till  each 
Has  swelled  its  bulk  to  where  its  limits  reach. 

Now  may  we  view  each  system's  early  state, 
As  red-hot  liquid  masses  they  rotate 
Obedient  to  a  law  which  science  owns, 
That  fluids  meeting  in  a  center,  zones 
Of  quick  rotation  are  established — so 
All  whirlpools  prove,  as  madly  round  they  go. 
And  still  another  law  have  we  to  show. 
Rotating  fluids,  drawing  as  they  go 
All  things  attractive,  still  repel  again, 
By  that  same  force,  all  that  they  can  't  retain. 


22  PROGRESSION. 

And  thus  each  solar  system  claims  its  birth, 
Formed  by  the  self-same  laws  man  finds  on  earth 
In  simplest  things ;  for  He  who  formed  them  all, 
Made  the  same  power  by  which  apples  fall 
To  hold  great  systems  in  their  proper  place, 
And  keep  each  courser  on  the  fields  of  space 
From  chance  encounter  in  their  rapid  race ! 

Seest  thou  yon  monarch  of  the  realms  of  day, 
Whose  diadem  emits  a  golden  ray, 
As  thro'  morn's  opal  gates  he  takes  his  way  ? 
Why  turns  the  earth,  with  a  glad  smile,  to  greet 
His  coming,  and  to  kiss  his  jeweled  feet  ? 
Wliy  from  each  hill-side,  meadow,  dale,  and  grove, 
Do  ringing  anthems  of  melodious  love 
In  matin  welcomes  rise  ?     0  !  say,  why  opes 
The  flowers'  sweet  eyes,  as  lawn  and  leafy  copes 
Shake  off  the  glittering  dew-drops  which  the  night's 
Dark  eyes  have  wept,  and  hail  the  dawn's  delights  ? 

Does  not  Dame  Nature,  with  harmonious  voice, 
Call  thro'  her  mossy  dales  and  groves  "Rejoice?" 
Bends  not  the  earth  in  tribute  to  her  sire 
Who  proudly  turns  on  her  his  eyes  of  fire, 
Whence  spring  both  warmth  and  light  ?     0,  why, 
say  why, 


CREATION.  23 

Do  all  things  turn  instinctive  to  the  sky, 
And  rapt  adore  the  Day  God's  golden  sheen, 
If  ne'er  a  part  of  it  they  once  have  been? 
Is  not  the  voice  of  nature  ever  near 
To  whisper  of  the  parent  in  child's  ear  ? 
And  thus,  the  earth — last  youngest-born  but  two 
Of  this,  our  solar  household — gives  her  due 
Of  reverence  meet,  her  morning  greeting  fair, 
To  her  crowned  sire  enthroned  in  golden  air. 

For,  once,  a  circling  mass  of  liquid  fire, 
Our  sun  filled  all  our  system's  space  entire; 
And  gases,  metals,  earths,  all,  all  were  blent 
In  mass  chaotic,  thro'  space  whirling  sent. 
As  ages  lapsed,  grown  colder  (as  all  must 
In  time),  solidifying  to  a  crust, 
Its  outer  edge  gave  way,  as  solids  will 
From  fluids  part,  one  law  obeying  still  ; 
This  detached  mass,  assuming  spheral  shape, 
Rotating  in  the  orbit  where  escape 
From  thrall  parental  first  proclaims  it  free 
And  eldest  born  of  Sol's  vast  progeny, 
It  paces  now  in  never-ending  march, 
The  outer  walls  of  this,  our  system's  arch, 
As  sentinel,  guarding  the  wide  domain, 


24  PROGRESSION. 

Where  brother  soldiers  tramp  in  starry  train 
Their  circling  courses,  as  from  parent  sun 
They  sprang  to  being,  as  the  first  had  done; 
Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn,  claiming  birth 
Of  the  same  sire,  their  gentle  sisters,  Earth 
And  fair-browed  Venus  honored  father  call — 
And  Mercury,  the  youngest  born  of  all — 
Members  of  the  same  family,  each  one, 
We  find  these  bright- eyed  children  of  the  Sun. 

Go  forth,  0  man,  when  eve,  with  glowing  cheek 
And  dewy  lip,  murmurs  a  good-night  meek, 
As  in  the  footsteps  of  her  liege-lord  nigh, 
She  softly  follows  o'er  the  faded  sky, 
Lights  the  bright  taper  in  her  nuptial  bower, 
Pauses  a  moment  o'er  each  bridemaid  flower 
For  farewell  kiss,  then  hides  her  from  their  sight, 
Beneath  the  envious  drapery  of  night — 
Linger,  till  deep  descends  still   midnight's  hour, 
List  to  the  voice  of  Nature,  own  her  power; 
Raise  but  your  glances  to  the  arching  sky, 
Where    countless    suns    and    systems    ceaseless 

%-       . 

Where  Sirius  sparkles  with  his  diamond  blaze, 
And  Lyra  on  her  golden  harp-strings  plays, 


CREATION.  25 

Arcturus  moves  resplendent  'mong  the  stars, 
With  glowing  luster  like  the  shield  of  Mars — 
Bootes  with  his  hounds  pursues  the  Bear, 
And  Pleiades  still  mourn — grieved  sisters  fair, 
While  Aldebaran's  red  eye  gleams  afar, 
As  Taurus  wages  ineffectual  war 
'Gainst  bold  Orion's  sword  of  golden  spheres — 
All  suns  of  systems,  numbering  more  years 
On  Time's  hoar  chronicle,  than  mind  of  man 
Can  ever  grasp  within  its  feeble  span 
Behold  these  wonders  !  then  on  bended  knee 
Lift  up  your  humble  heart  to  Deity, 
And  ask,  with  prayerful  lips,  "  Lord,  what  is  man, 
That  thou  art  mindful  of  him?"     Father,  can 
So  frail  a  creature  claim  from  thee  a  thought, 
Thou  Architect  of  worlds  built  out  of  naught? 
Stupendous  structures,  tangible  and  bright, 
Whose  glories  from  nonentity's  dark  night, 
Forth  at  thy  bidding  sprang — thro'  ceaseless  years 
Progressing  to  these  gold  illumined  spheres, 
Teeming  with  life!     And  ages  yet  will  show 
New  worlds  and  glories,  bright'ning  as  they  go, 
To  swell  the  wavelets  of  that  stellar  sea, 
Whose  shores  are  bounded  by  eternity! 
3 


26  PROGRESSION. 

Thus  have  we  seen  how  solar  systems  spring, 
And  from  each  sun,  each  planet,  once  a  ring 
Detached  from  the  hot  mass,  condensing  still 
To  a  fixed  point,  its  orbit  there  to  fill, 
"Which,  as  it  cools,  may  from  itself  throw  off 
Its  superfluities  (tho'  skeptics  scoff!) 
Which,  by  the  laws  of  nature,  fixed  as  fate, 
Around  their  parent  mass  will  then  rotate. 
Thus  satellites  are  formed,  those  lesser  lights 
That  with  soft  silver  lamps  illume  the  nights, 
When  wearied  day  her  western  chamber  seeks, 
And  goblin  darkness  to  the  owlet  speaks — • 
When  bats  marauding  thro'  the  dusky  air 
Rouse  the  hyena,  slumbering  in  his  lair, 
And  croaking  ravens,  till  the  hour  has  come 
For  such  ill  things  and  elfin  shapes  to  roam. 

What  Goddess,  meek  advancing  o'er  the  blue 
Etherial  pathway  of  the  stars,  looks  thro' 
Their  jeweled  ranks?     An  ornate  silver  shield, 
Upon  a  diamond-studded  azure  field, 
Is  her  insignia!     'Tis  bright  Luna,  she 
In  fable,  Goddess  of  fair  Chastity — 
But  whom  men  know  as  gentle  Ladye  Moon, 
She  comes  to  smile  away  "night's  cheerless  noon!" 


CREATION.  27 

Earth's  fair-browed  daughter  she,  her  only  one — 

Thrown  from  that  earth,  as  earth  from  parent  sun, 

And  ever  lending  to  her  mother  dear 

A  smile  of  love,  her  gloomy  night  to  cheer. 

If  then,  each  mighty  orb  that  lights  the  blue 

Empyrean,  has  sprung  to  being,  true 

To  laws  presiding  o'er  the  whole,  and  all 

From  matter  in  one  vast  stupendous  ball — 

May  we  not  also  judge,  that  all  contain 

Constituent  elements,  which  lose  or  gain 

A  density,  as  subject  more  or  less 

To  those  controlling  causes  which  compress, 

Expand,  solidify,  evaporize 

All  gases,  metals,  known  beneath  the  skies  ? 

The  chemist  tells  of  certain  substances 
Called  Elements,  and  by  combining  these, 
All  forms  of  matter  in  and  round  our  earth, 
Are  represented  in  primordial  birth — 
As  water,  from  two  gases  mingling,  springs, 
The  liquid  compound  of  these  vaporous  things; 
The  metal  silicium,  in  quantum  suf., 
With  oxygen  unites  to  form  the  rough 
Silica,  base  of  nearly  half  the  rocks  ; 
While  carbon  sparkles  in  the  ebon  blocks, 


28 


PROGRESSION. 


The  massive  walls,  and  wide-spread,  jetty  domes, 

Where  the  poor  miners  make  their  dismal  homes, 

As  well  as  in  the  diamond's  sparkling  rays 

Which  in  a  monarch's  jeweled  scepter  blaze ; 

And  nitrogen,  of  which  our  atmosphere 

Is  four-fifths  formed,  among  them  doth  appear ; 

While  different  metals  with  a  gas  combined, 

In  magnesia,  alumin,  lime,  we  find. 

Yet  solids,  liquids,  fluids  aeriform, 

Are  all  reducible  to  simple  form 

Which  elementary  we  call ;  of  these 

Are  gases,  six ;  metallic  substances, 

In  number  forty-two ;  the  rest  not  classed, 

But  which,  as  elements,  must  not  be  passed, 

For  carbon  stands  within  the  group,  a  small 

Ingredient  in  the  atmosphere,  but  all 

Of  animal  or  vegetable  kind 

Are  with  its  subtle  essence  intertwined, 

The  base  on  which  they  rest ;  and  fossils,  too, 

Formed  from  the  latter,  it  impregnates  thro'; 

As  coal  will  show,  within  whose  dusky  bed 

Masses  of  carbon  are  deposited. 

If  these  constituent  elements  that  all 
Of  matter  else  is  formed  from,  on  this  ball, 


CREATION.  29 

Have  sprung  themselves  from  primordial  form 
Of  matter,  which  some  fierce,  organic  storm, 
Obeying  certain  laws,  has  caused  produce, 
Analogy  would  teach  us  to  deduce, 
The  same  conditions  liable  to  take  place, 
In  all  the  regions  of  infinite  space, 
As  are  the  laws  of  centrifugal  force 
Or  gravitation  ;  and,  if  so,  of  course 
The  gases,  metals,  earths,  exist  as  true 
(Conditions  being  proper),  where  the  blue, 
Unbroken  ether  fans  the  golden  light 
Of  astral  systems,  glorious  and  bright, 
Yet  far  remote,  beyond  the  span  of  mind 
To  fathom,  as  the  wanderings  of  the  wind 
"  That  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  as  on  earth, 
Where  science  metes  to  them  this  glorious  birth. 
Matter,  if  springing  then  from  but  one  cause, 
Or  many  more  (as  may  be),  under  laws 
That  differ  in  effects,  shows  varied  forms ; 
As  cold  condenses  ;  heat,  expanding,  warms. 
Put  water  under  arctic  temperature, 
And  solid  barriers  guard  the  ice-bound  shore ; 
Place  the  same  liquid  in  the  boiler  red 
With  heat,  and  wreathing,  curling  overhead, 


30  PROGRESSION. 

The  vapor  moist  in  graceful  folds  ascends, 
Expanding,  as  with  air  it  freely  blends, 
Filling  more  space  than  -when  a  liquid  mass, 
Or  by  cold  hardened  to  a  wall  of  glass. 

Thus  heat,  we  find's  a  powerful  agent  here 
In  regulating  matter  in  our  sphere. 
And  science  tells  us  how  much  added  heat 
Would  be  required,  to  'vaporize  complete, 
The  waters  of  our  globe — and  how  much  more, 
To  free  the  solids  of  their  gaseous  store, 
And  with  increasing  temperature,  to  bring 
The  whole  to  vapor,  whence  it  first  did  spring. 

'Tis  then,  existing  temperature,  which  lends 
The  earth  its  present  volume,  and  which  blend 
The  elements  in  compound  form,  and  gives 
Conditions  whereby  man  and  creature  lives. 
And  chilling  off  with  age,  is  nature's  law — 
For  that  the  earth  has  colder  grown,  no  flaw 
We  find  in  research  ever  to  exist, 
In  refutation  of  the  fact.     The  mist 
Of  fire,  wherein  each  solar  system  formed, 
Agglomerated,  till  its  surface  swarmed 
With  eddying  circles,  cooling  as  they  turned, 
Till  each  a  mighty  sun  in  splendor  burned, 


CREATION.  31 

Which  cooling  still,  threw  off  its  planet  host — 
The  first  of  which,  escaped,  of  course,  could  boast 
More  heat  than  could  the  next — and  so,  till  all 
Were  whirling  sent  from  the  great  golden  ball, 
Which  still  retained  warmth-giving  power  and  light 
Enough  to  dissipate  each  planet's  night. 

Take  our  own  system — view  each  planet  there — 
Their  densities  form  argument  most  fair 
In  favor  of  the  theory ;  for  earth 
Claiming  o'er  Mercury  and  Venus,  birth 
Antecedent,  hath  matter  more  diffuse 
Than  either ;  which  will  force  us  to  deduce 
That  'twas  because  the  earth  was  formed  when  heat 
Was  greater  in  our  system ;  so  complete 
Throughout  that  system's  range,  this  unity 
Among  its  planetic  community, 
Is  marked.     Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn,  still 
Are  lighter,  as  in  circling  turns,  they  fill 
Respective  limits  in  our  system's  space. 
And  Ilerschel,  elder  still  in  planet  race, 
In  his  diffusive  matter,  shows  that  heat 
Preponderated,  when  his  glowing  feet 
First  trod  the  azure.     And,  may  it  not  be 
So  ordered,  that  these  distant  worlds  shall  see 


32  PROGRESSION. 

Less  of  the  sun's  light,  feel  less  of  his  heat, 
Because  their  inward  warmth  makes  all  complete  ! 
While  those  that's  nearest  to  the  fountain-head 
(As  Mercury,  for  instance,  dense  as  lead) 
Exist  beneath  an  atmosphere  of  cold, 
Which  call  for  solar  rays  of  heat  fourfold, 
To  make  them  habitable. 

Wise,  those  laws, 

By  Him  ordained,  the  great  All-giving  Cause  ! — 
Who  hath  attempered  every  dwelling-place 
In  His  wide  empire,  to  each  varied  race 
That  He  hath  placed  there.    For,  no  cause  have  we 
To  doubt  existence  on  those  orbs  we  see 
Obeying  laws,  which  govern  earth  as  well, 
Where  sentient  beings  are  well-known  to  dwell. 
No  right  have  we — presuming  as  we  are — 
To  dare  deny  to  one  pale,  trembling  star 
That  sails  with  earth  our  system's  waveless  sea, 
Its  birthright's  due,  its  being's  destiny  ! 
As  theaters  of  life,  young  nurseries 
For  budding  virtues,  and  rich  argosies 
Of  dawning  hopes  and  aspirations  high 
That  reach  beyond  the  blue,  o'erarching  sky, 
Are  those  bright  orbs  that  ever  ceaseless  fly  ! 


CREATION.  33 

Or  crucibles  where  every  grain  of  good 

Is  filtered  from  its  dross,  to  be  the  food 

Of  angels,  in  those  higher  realms  where  man 

Will  walk  transparent,  when  his  little  span 

Of  life  is  past,  and  mind  shall  have  progressed 

Beyond  its  clayey  covering — then  the  rest 

Shall  be  as  noon-day  clear — as  on,  still  on 

Thro'  Heaven's  bright  aisles,  until  the  goal  is  won, 

And  God  revealed,  in  majesty  sublime, 

Great  Self-existent  Founder  of  all  time ! — 

Shines  o'er  his  works  brighter  than -midday  sun, 

And  gives  his  creature  welcome — with  "  Well  done, 

Thou  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou 

Into  the  joys  prepared  for  thee  !" 

And  now 

(These  facts  admitted),  it  is  clearly  shown,1 
Our  globe's  a  specimen  of  all  the  known, 
And  similarly  placed  orbs,  that  run 
Their  circling  courses  round  our  common  sun — 
That  is,  as  far  as  matter,  and  the  laws 
Which  govern  it  are  known — with  but  this  clause : 
That  varied  shades  will  from  conditions  spring — 
And  bodies  here  that's  solid,  there  may  wing 
In  vapory  folds,  or  in  soft  liquid  flow, 


34  PROGRESSION. 

As  inner  heat  sends  forth  expanding  glow. 
If  then,  we're  "  one  of  many,"  let  us  seek 
With  earnest  faith,  and  reverence  true  and  meek, 
To  gain  a  knowledge  of  our  mother  earth, 
Since  we  have  seen  there's  nothing  in  her  birth 
That  differs  from  all  other  planets  known. 
In  her,  we  then,  have  but  a  sample  shown 
Of  myriad  orbs,  that — like  the  desert's  sand 
Whose  grains  are  numberless — on  every  hand, 
Above,  around  us  circle  ! 

Let  us  look 

In  Nature's  ever  open  "  story-book," 
And  read  upon  its  pages,  truths  sublime, 
There  traced  by  never-erring  "  Father  Time." 
Quaint  chronicles  on  every  leaf  marks  he — 
Sometimes  upon  the  margin,  "  Destiny  " — 
But  still,  the  running  title  clear  and  bright, 
We'll  find  o'er  all,  lettered  both  full  and  light— 
"  Progression !" — Earth's  brown  cover  lift  and  see 
Its  footsteps  over  mountain,  rock,  and  lea ! 


THE  wondrous  Earth!  diversified  with  vales 
And  mounts,  rocks,  forests,  rivers,  meadows,  dales, 
Blue,  dimpling  lakes  and  foaming  oceans  deep — 
White,  towering  glaciers — dark  ravines  and  steep 
Acclivities — fierce  torrents,  rushing  free 
O'er  jutting  crags,  to  form  a  raging  sea 
Of  surge — and  tiny  rivulets  that  sing 
A  cheerful  song,  as  onward  still  they  wing 
Their  modest  way  to  the  great  deep — all,  all 
That's  beauteous,  grand,  terrific,  on  this  ball — ^ 
That  wakes  our  wonder,  or  calls  forth  our  praise, 
Or  startles,  even  while  we  raptured  gaze — 
Must  still  inspire  more  wonder,  reverence,  awe, 
When,  as  results  of  an  unchanging  law 
We  view  them ! — And  this  proof  of  it  we'll  bring — 
'Tis  from  conditions  meeting,  all  things  spring, 

In  manner  called  spontaneous — each  thing 

(35) 


36  PROGRESSION. 

Inanimate,  and  those  with  life  endowed ! — 
Tho'  mystery  the  manner  may  enshroud 
To  our  dull  visions;  yet  effects  we  see, 
Showing  us,  that  't  is  from  spontaneity 
All  changes  geological  take  place 
Upon  the  earth,  and,  also,  that  each  race 
Of  animals,  from  meaner  things  that  crawl, 
To  man,  by  each  acknowledged  lord  of  all 
Terrestrial  things,  have  in  like  manner  been 
Produced.     Spontaneous  the  action,  seen 
Thro'  its  effects;  and  electricity's 
The  powerful  agent  to  accomplish  these 
(To  us)  most  wonderful  results — divine 
In  origin,  omnipotent,  sublime  ! 

'Tis  thus,  the  great,  all-wise  Creator  shows 
His  majesty!     O!  think  not  that  it  throws 
One  tittle  of  contempt  upon  his  power 
To  show,  that  by  fixed  laws — a  godly  dower — 
He  works  his  ever  comprehensive  will: 
It  proves  the  mighty  mind,  more  mighty  still, 
That  has  the  power  to  frame  harmonious  laws, 
Progressive  thro'  all  time,  from  simplest  cause 
To  most  sublime  effect,  than  to  affirm 
That  Deity,  in  person,  placed  each  germ, 


THE    EARTH.  37 

To  wave  in  foliage  o'er  each  circling  sphere, 
Where  first  it  sprang  to  being !     0 !  no  fear 
That  reasoning  minds  to  this  delusion  long 
Shall  yield,  when  truthful  Nature,  with  her  throng 
Of  witnesses,  attests  the  glorious  power 
That's  worked  Time's  lever  from  its  starting  hour, 
That's  calling,  now,  new  wonders  from  the  mist 
In  which — like  fire  in  the  volcano's  heart — exist 
The  subtile  elements,  with  impulse  rife, 
Waiting  the  touch  of  some  organic  strife 
To  reproduce  them  in  their  outward  form, 
As  the  red  thunderbolt  is  born  of  storm! 

All  elemental  substances  are  found 
United  in  some  compound  form.     Thus,  round 
Our  globe  aerial  draperies  curl, 
As  oxv^en  and  nitrogen  unfurl 

\j  O 

Their  gaseous  banners,  waved  in  union,  where 
Their  folds  uniting,  form  our  atmosphere! 
But  tho'  thus  blent  in  vapory  union, 
They  're  never  found  alone  in  nature ;  one, 
Of  water's  a  third  part;  and  in  each  kind 
Of  rock  in  the  earth's  crust,  we  also  find 
This  gas  abundant — while  the  other  claims 
The  "better-half"  of  Air's  wide-spread  domains, 


38  PROGRESSION. 

And  freely  blends  with  many  simple  things, 

If  but  attraction  waves  inviting  wings — 

For,  there  are  predilections  strange,  in  these 

Aeriform,  metallic  substances, 

Toward  each  other's  company.     We  find 

(  So  says  the  chemist )  two  of  these  combined 

In  a  solution ;  add  a  third,  and  see 

One  of  the  former  to  the  latter  flee — 

Then  introduce  a  fourth,  the  third  will  leave, 

The  first  and  firmly  to  the  stranger,  cleave ! 

Few  rocks  there  are  in  which  can  not  be  found, 
Two  forms  of  matter,  each  of  which  abound 
In  elementary  substances  combined — 
While  in  the  diamond,  carbon  pure  we  find, 
Alone ;  thus  showing,  combinations  and 
Recombinations  blend  on  every  hand ; 
Conditions  meet  conditions,  and  thence  spring 
All  forms  of  matter,  and  each  living  thing ! 
For  such  are  but  earth's  majestatic  laws — 
There 's  no  effect  but  there  exists  a  cause. 

Now  that  our  globe  was  in  a  fluid  state 
When  finally  solidifying,  great 
Existing  proof  have  we ;  the  very  form 
Which  a  revolving  body,  soft  and  warm, 


THE  EARTH.  39 

Will  always  take  from  centrifugal  force, 
Our  earth  possesses,  which  departs,  of  course, 
Just  so  much  from  a  perfect  sphere,  as  shows 
The  workings  of  that  inner  law,  which  throws 
Preponderance  toward  the  equatorial  zone, 
Where  earth's  diameter  exceeds,  'tis  known, 
Its  polar  depth,  and  proves  our  planet's  form 
To  be  an  oblate  spheroid ;  not  warm 
(As  once )  upon  its  outer  crust,  but  deep 
In  its  huge  subterranean  chambers  sleep 
The  smoldering  fires — a  residuum 
Of  that  great  heat  which  kept  vaporiform 
All  matter  in  times  past — and  whence  arise 
Volcanoes  flaming,  towering  to  the  skies  ! 

The  lamp  of  science  throws  its  piercing  ray 
Thro'  earth's  green  coverlet  and  wild  rocks  gray, 
And  by  its  light,  shining  distinct  and  clear, 
The  beauteous  law  of  Order  doth  appear 
In  the  arrangements  of  the  solid  crust, 
Whose  basis  rock  of  crystalline,  't  is  just 
To  infer,  must  rest  upon  the  fused  mass 
Of  matter  in  earth's  center — thence  we  pass 
To  layer,  or  strata,  which  from  water  seems 
To  've  been  deposited ;  but  this,  by  streams 


40  PROGRESSION. 

Of  melted  rock  volcanically  sent 

From  the  chaotic  mass  below,  is  rent 

In  fissures;  and  again,  are  chinks, 

Where  veins  of  many  metals  lay — broad  links 

Of  yellow  gold,  pale  silver,  duller  lead, 

And  red-eyed  iron  are  deposited, 

Thus  forming,  at  first  sight,  a  most  confused, 

Disordered  scene.     But  when  we  have  perused 

The   leaves  of  the   "  stone   book,"  we  will  have 

hived 

Instruction  only  from  such  source  derived ; 
A  knowledge  of  the  history  of  our  globe, 
The  which  to  gain,  we  must  its  vitals  probe. 

The  deposition  of  the  aqueous  rocks, 
And  the  projection  of  volcanic  blocks, 
Have  taken  place  since  Earth  its  present  form 's 
Assumed.     And  still  take  place,  as  the  wild  storms 
Of  .ZEtna  and  Vesuvius  plainly  show ; 
Where  the  red  lava's  seething,  molten  flow 
(The  rocky  scum  of  each  fused  element 
O'er-boiling    the    huge    caldrons   where    they're 

blent), 

Rains  liquid  fire  upon  the  plains  around, 
Which  cooling,  solid  rock  is  always  found. 


THE  EARTH.  41 

And  the  deep  sea,  in  never-ceasing  flow, 

Her  stores  of  sediment  still  leaves  below  ; 

And  as  fresh  layers  upon  her  rocky  bed 

She  freely  scatters,  thro'  the  mass  is  spread 

Diffusive  heat  from  the  great  fires  beneath, 

And  from  its  action,  thus,  another  sheath 

Or  coating's  added  to  the  basis  rock 

Of  earth's  broad  wall  of  crystal,  block  on  block. 

And  so,  old  Earth  is  ever  filling  up 

Her  inequalities — for  where  the  cup 

Of  mighty  seas  sunk  deep  within  her  breast 

(Deeper  than  those  which  now  within  it  rest), 

Granitic  mountains  reared  their  scraggy  heads 

From  ocean's  ever  restless,  surging  beds, 

And  tireless  waves  still  chafed  the  rocky  sides, 

Bearing  the  granules  on  their  flowing  tides, 

Which  "  constant  dripping  "  will  wear  off" — to  fill 

The  cavities  below.     And  this  is  still 

The  means  used  now,  as  in  times  formerly, 

To  give  the  earth  a  smooth  rotundity. 

'T  is  science  tells  us  that  the  seas  of  old 
Were  deeper  far  by  many,  many  fold, 
Than  now  ;  and  this  is  by  the  primary  rocks 
Well  proved,  of  which,  the  lofty,  towering  blocks ; 
4 


42  PROGRESSION. 

That  guard  old  Scotia's  burns  and  fiow'ry  braes 
Are    fine    examples.       These,    formed    in    those 

days 

Of  eld,  the  earliest  stratified,  and  first 
Series  that  from  earth's  crystal  bosom  burst, 
Are  called  the  gneiss  system  and  mica  slate. 
The  thickness  of  these  beds  is  oft  so  great 
That  it  attests  the  mighty  depths  profound 
Of  the  primeval  oceans  that  around, 
(Perhaps)  above  them  circled. 

Now,  these  rocks, 

These  early  stratified,  primeval  blocks, 
Bear  witness  of  a  higher  temperature, 
A  stronger  heat  than  any,  we  are  sure, 
Within  earth's  crust ;  nor  one  of  them  contains 
A  vestige  of  the  petrified  remains 
Of  vegetation  or  of  creature — found 
In  other  rocks  so  freely  to  abound 
To  tell  a  wondrous  tale  of  times  long  past — 
And  from  their  absence  in  a  field  so  vast 
As  these  present,  we  must  infer  that  none 
Existed ;  that  the  earth  displayed  but  one 
Vast  face  of  ponderous  rock  or  boiling  sea, 
Where  naught  of  verdure,  flower,  or  shrub,  or  tree, 


THE  EARTH.  43 

Waved  its  soft  foliage  on  the  sterile  air, 
Nor  animal  crouched  in  his  covert  lair, 
Nor  fish  in  the  hot  waves  disporting,  laved, 
Nor  wing  of  bird  the  heated  ether  cleaved ; 
But  silence,  broken  only  by  the  roar 
Of  the  wild  waters  dashing  on  the  shore, 
Hung  o'er  the  lonely  scene  ! 

The  march  toward  life 

Had  not  commenced  as  yet.     Organic  strife 
In  never-ceasing  changes,  still  evoked 
Conditions  new,  to  part  the  chain  which  yoked 
Existence  in  its  rocky  prison  deep, 
And  loose  that  element  from  pristine  sleep, 
Which  clothes  the  forest  in  its  mantle  green, 
And  o'er  earth's  bosom  folds  an  emerald  screen; 
From  which    each  blade  of  grass,  each   sheaf  of 

grain, 
Sucks  in  the  principles  which  life  sustain ! 

And  what  this  substance  ?  Carbon — known  to  be 
Of  herb  and  plant  the  main  commodity — 
From  them  to  animals,  by  transit  rare 
'Tis  passed,  and  back  again  restored  to  air 
In  each  expired  breath  the  latter  sends — 
So  that  with  all  things,  thus  'tis  shown,  it  blends 


44  PROGRESSION. 

The  great  life-giving  principle  !  and  found 
In  the  next  strata  freely  to  abound 
In  beds  of  limestone;  and  'tis  there  are  shown 
The  first  remains  of  living  creatures  known  : 
The  forms  of  zoophites,  polypes 
(Those  tireless  builders  in  the  restless  seas 
Where  coral  palaces  attest  their  skill, 
Their  perseverance,  industry,  and  will  ! ) 
*  And  mollusJcs— these,  the  fossils  which  betray 
The  life-productions  of  that  early  day, 
Of  which  the  species  now  are  swept  away ; 
For  'tis  resemblance,  only,  that  they  show 
In  general  character,  to  those  below 
Old  ocean's  briny  billows,  where  they  lave 
To-day,  the  portals  of  the  sea-king's  cave. 
And  with  them,  various  sea-plants,  also  sprung 
Spontaneous  in  their  watery  beds,  and  clung 
The  first  link  in  the  chain  of  nutriment. 
And  so,  by  links,  all  forms  of  life  are  blent ! 
Conditions  are  advanced — and  one  by  one, 
A  higher  order  is  produced.     'T  is  shown, 
That  in  the  eras  of  those  early  rocks, 
A  tropic  clime  prevailed ;  and  as  the  blocks 
Of  other  series  reared  their  stately  heads, 


THE  EARTH.  45 

From  the  retreating  ocean's  watery  beds, 

A  cooler  temperature  still  wrought  more  change ; 

And  varied  petrifactions  in  each  range, 

Give,  in  quaint  characters,  on  stony  page 

(If  man  ivould  only  heed),  their  lessons  sage  ! 

Thus  in  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  fish  abound, 
That  nowhere  in  earth's  waters  now  are  found; 
Nor  only  in  one  section  of  our  sphere, 
In  those  old  rocks,  do  these  remains  appear. 
In  lands  antipodal,  where'er  is  found, 
The  strata  of  that  system,  types  abound 
Of  uniform  condition — which  doth  show 
This  form  of  life  organic,  in  its  flow, 
Was  coeval  with  those  primeval  rocks ; 
And  not  until  the  Secondary  blocks, 
Or  ranges  Carboniferous,  was  seen, 
Upon  the  earth's  broad  bosom,  aught  of  green 
Luxuriance  or  verdure ;  no  land  plant, 
Or  animal  remains,  ere  these,  extant, 
To  prove  that  such  existed. 

Thence,  'tis  clear, 

The  mighty  mandate,  "  Let  dry  land  appear," 
Was  by  earth's  majestatic  laws  obeyed 
(The  produce  of  conditions  all  arrayed 


46  PROGRESSION. 

In  favorable  progress),  at  the  close 
Of  the  first  strata.     Then  volcanic  throes, 
In  nature's  bosom  spoke  the  mighty  birth, 
Of  the  great  mountain  ranges  of  our  earth. 
Dry  land  was  formed,  and  vegetation  reared 
Its  head  spontaneous — towering  shrubs  appeared, 
Of  which  no  species  now  on  earth  are  known ; 
Because  the  temperature,  't  is  clearly  shown, 
Too  cold  is  for  existing  types  to  be 
Developed  to  such  size.     And  thus,  we  see, 
The  forests  of  those  days  abundant  spread 
(As  their  deposits  in  each  dusk  coal-bed 
Must  plainly  prove — geology  doth  show 
Hundreds  of  species  in  this  strata  low). 
The  fern  or  bracken  then  in  lofty  trees, 
Waved  in  wild  foliage  on  each  tropic  breeze, 
Sweeping  o'er  earth's  warm  breast  in  music  sweet, 
Where  now  the  Ice-king  stalks  with  freezing  feet; 
But  still  no  flowering  shrub  or  luscious  fruit 
Spread  tempting  banquet  round  for  bee  or  brute — 
No  hum  of  bird  or  insect's  waving  wings, 
Nor  higher  types  of  animated  things 
Shone  o'er  the  scene.    And  from  this,  it  would  seem 
That  this  luxuriant  vegetable  stream, 


THE   EARTH.  47 

Was  but  designed  the  atmosphere  to  free 

Of  matter  noxious  to  organic  life — and  be 

A  means,  as  well,  to  lay  up  mineral  store 

To  benefit  the  human  tides,  which  pour 

Their  floods  from  North,  South,  East,  and  West, 

to-day, 
And  to  Omniscient  Source  their  tribute  pay  ! 

We  pass  from  these  to  other  rocks,  and  here 
We  find  new  marvels.     On  our  startled  ear 
Breaks  a  low  whisper  from  our  mother,  Earth: 
"  Behold !  the  forms  to  which  was  given  birth 
Spontaneous — in  creatures  made  to  be 
Dwellers  alike  of  either  land  or  sea!" 
Yes,  in  these  rocks  are  found  the  fossil  forms 
Of  reptiles  huge ;  and,  also,  mammoth  swarms 
Of  creatures  now  unknown,  but  still  allied 
To  crocodiles  and  lizards — and  beside, 
Are -numerous  tortoises  of  monstrous  growth; 
And    all    these    creatures    blend    the    types    of 

both 

Land  animals  and  fish — that  is,  they  live 
In  water,  yet  can  breathe  the  air — and  give 
In  one  (the  rynchosaurus),  beak  and  feet 
Of  bird,  and  reptile  body — to  complete 


48  PROGRESSION. 

The  link  between  these  two.     So  Nature  blends 
Each  changing  type  as  higher  she  ascends  ! 

And  thus,  the  New  Red  Sandstone  era  shows 
Commencement  of  Eeptilia,  and  throws 
Advancing  steps  toward  the  next  order — birds. 
Then  the  succeeding  series,  formed  two-thirds 
Of  Oolite  (a  limestone  in  round  grains 
Like  to  a  fish's  roe),  give  the  remains 
Of  reptiles  still,  and  insects ;  also,  here, 
The  first  marks  of  Mammalia  appear — 
The  fossil  of  a  quadruped,  as  clear 
To  prove  the  progress  that  the  busy  earth 
Had  made  in  creatures  of  spontaneous  birth — ' 
For  by  this  petrifaction,  we  infer 
The  lowest  order  of  this  mammifer, 
Marsupialia — here  first  was  seen — 
And    still   new    plants ;   which    prove   the    clime 

t'have  been 

A  tropical  and  temperate  between. 
Thus  showing,  still  decreasing  temperature, 
And  new  advancing  types  appearing  here, 
The  while  the  old  in  gradual  decay, 
Were  from  their  scene  of  being  swept  away. 

The  next  formed  rocks  cretaceous  are.    Of  these, 


THE   EARTH.  49 

The  white  cliffs  of  Old  England,  o'er  the  seas, 
That  stretch  broad  arms  to  shield  their  native  land 
From  depredation — guardians  of  the  strand  ! — 
Are  specimens.     In  such  chalk-beds  are  seen 
Great  hollows,  with  clay,  limestone,  marl  between^ — 
And  these  mixed  beds  (which  have  divided  been 
Into  three  classes),  show  new  species,  still, 
Of  animals — thus,  link  by  link,  to  fill 
The  gap  between  the  earliest  formed  and  man, 
According  to  earth's  grand  organic  plan 
By  infinite  intelligence  arranged  ! 
Which  mortal  arrogance  has  never  changed, 
Tho'  fanatics  have  wordy  thunders  hurl'd 
Above  a  strangely  self-deluded  world, 
To  prove  their  Maker  in  his  laws  did  err, 
Which  failed  to  fashion  man. 

We  must  infer, 

From  petrifactions  in  this  strata  found, 
That  earth  had  reached,  in  her  progressive  round, 
The  period  whose  glimmering  dawn  would  rise 
To  noonday  splendor;  when  the  arching  skies 
Would   wave  bright  banners   o'er    the   bounteous 

lands, 

That,  still  obeying  the  Divine  commands, 
5 


50  '  PROGRESSION. 

"Would  bring  forth  living  creature,  creeping  thing, 
And  every  feathered  warbler  that  doth  wing 
Its  way  thro'  the  blue  ether;  when  great  whales 
Would  part  the  billows,  and  the  finny  sails 
Gliding  o'er  oceans'  watery  mirrors  blue, 
Would  still  proclaim  their  laws  of  being  true — 
Fulfilling  the  great  mandate  which  went  forth 
In  the  beginning,  and  thus  prove  its  worth 
In  earth's  increasing  fruitfulness  ! 

Begin 

With  the  first  period  of  this  era.     In 
Its  shell  deposits,  vast  remains  are  found, 
Showing  mammalia  freely  to  abound, 
Of  higher  types — Paeliydermata.     These 
Are  long  extinct  in  direct  species, 
But  still  approximating  to  that  class 
That  now  on  earth  crops  the  luxuriant  grass. 
And  others  still,  allied  to  wolf  and  fox, 
Opossum,  raccoon,  squirrel — in  these  blocks 
Of  Tertiary  Formation.     Species,  too, 
Of  birds  allied  to  sea-lark,  quail,  curlew 
And  buzzard,  owl  and  pelican,  and  new 
Forms  of  reptiles.     Then  the  next  periods  give 
Advancing  types  of  creatures  vast  that  live 


THE   EARTH.  51 

'Neath  the  wave:  marine  mammalia,  here, 
Seals,  dolphins,  whales,  walruses  now  appear; 
And  still  progressing,  on  the  land  are  shown 
The  mastodon  and  mammoth,  now  unknown, 
With  other  animals  gigantic,  prone 
To  exist  in  times  gone  by,  as  if  the  earth 
Used  a  refining  process  in  each  birth, 
And  modeled  and  remodeled  every  type, 
That  each  incongruous  feature  she  might  wipe 
From  the  progressive  being,  till  it  shone 
The  prototype  of  the  Almighty  One, 
Whose  wondrous  word,  "  In  our  own  image,  man 
Shall  fashioned  be!  "went  forth  when  time  began. 
From  these  huge  creatures — which  the  elephant 
Is  now  the  existing  species  of — we  want 
New  orders ;  and  behold !  we  find  them  here 
In  Ruminantia — as  camels,  deer, 
And  oxen,  now,  for  the  first  time  appear, 
And  these,  with  other  ruminants,  but  fill 
The  points  progressive  to  Bimana.     Still, 
A  gap  is  left  in  the  ascending  scale, 
And  lo  !  what  fills  it  ?     Surely  we  don't  fail, 
In  pointing  to  the  Quadrumana  ?     There 
The  link,  that  must  resolve  all  doubts  to  air ! 


52  PROGRESSION. 

Showing  the  blended  types  of  man  and  beast, 
And  with  intelligence  enough  at  least 
To  cause  us  wonder  if  the  (so-called)  brute, 
Is  destitute  of  reason,  altho'  mute? 
'T  is  to  Geology  we  owe  the  light 
That  dissipates  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
Brooding  above  the  labyrinthine  past, 
And  read  its  history  by  the  gleam  so  cast. 
A  never-ending  volume,  always  new, 
With  fresh  leaves  placed  by  time  while  journeying 

thro', 

And  to  its  bulk  will  each  succeeding  age, 
Still  add  a  wonderful,  transcendent  page ! 
From  low  volcanic  depths  to  mountain  heights, 
Time's  restless  pencil  still  this  axiom  writes: 
Spontaneous  formation  of  each  thing  I 
From  zephyr  floating  by  on  viewless  wing, 
To  raging  winds  that  toss  the  mighty  seas; 
From  the  young  leaf  that  trembles  on  the  breeze, 
To  the  gnarled  oak  that  braves  the  storm-king's 

wrath ; 

In  every  grain  of  sand,  in  every  path 
That  chafing  oceans  mark  upon  the  rocks; 
In  every  varied  tribe  of  feathered  flocks, 


THE  EARTH.  53 

That  part  the  azure  curtains  of  the  air; 

In  each  fierce  creature  crouching  in  his  lair; 

And  e'en  in  lordly  man,  we  read  this  truth, 

Self-evident  to  all  from  age  to  youth — 

That  each  inanimate  and  living  thing 

Must  from  spontaneous  action  ever  spring ! 

Note  the  firm  earth,  its  far-spread,  ranging  blocks 

Of  massive,  ponderous  and  towering  rocks — 

Of  what  composed  ?     Of  water  crystallized, 

Solidified — and  all,  evaporized 

May  be  by  heat.     For,  water  but  appears, 

The  well-known  produce  of  two  blended  airs 

By  electricity  combined.     And  this, 

The  fluid,  that  our  solid  planet  is 

Composed  of;  it  surrounds  the  globe  in  mists, 

And  deep  within  the  crust  of  earth  exists 

In  springs — deeper,  appears  a  sea,  as  shown 

By  wells  artesian,  which  to  all  are  known — 

Deeper,  it  is  conjectured 'to  exist, 

A  sea  of  condensed  steam,  or  scalding  mist — 

And  deeper  still,  in  mass  chaotic  lies, 

From  whose  hot,  molten  bed  volcanoes  rise. 

And  thus  around  us,  do  we  see  effects 
Of  spontaneity,  for  who  rejects 


54  PROGRESSION. 

The  theory,  that  conditions  must  be  right, 

To  work  such  wondrous  changes,  which  our  sight 

Convinces  us  have  taken  place  within 

Our  globe  ?     These  facts  to  prove,  we  must  begin 

At  the  beginning,  thence,  progressive  rise 

Upon  the  chain  whose  end  is  in  the  skies ! 

Nothing  was  e'er  created  to  be  lost. 
The  waif,  on  ocean's  billow  tempest-tost, 
Hath  still  its  mission,  trifling  tho'  it  be — 
And  what  but  drops  is  every  mighty  sea  ? 
And  atoms  infinite,  form  rolling  spheres, 
Succeeding  moments  swell  to  hoary  years — 
And  all  are  marching  toward  the  dawning  light 
That  parts  the  curtains  of  the  dying  night, 
And  lets  the  day-beam  splendor  in,  to  show 
To  man  benighted,  all  the  heavenly  glow 
Which  God's  grand  laws  progressing,  shed  around 
O'er  earth  and  skies,  where'er  effects  are  found! 
There  's  nothing  insubstantial — the  breath 
Of  air  we  breathe,  on  which  hangs  life  and  death, 
Can  be  by  pressure  turned  to  fluid  form, 
The  fleeting  rainbow  hues  that  ride  the  storm, 
Are  prisoned  in  the  diamond's  crystal  cell — 
The  thoughts  engendered  in  man's  brain,  can  swell 




THE   EARTH. 


55 


To  outward  shape  in  "  words  that  burn,"  and  leave 
Their  mark  on  memory's  brow  to  joy  or  grieve, 
Thrill  with  enthusiasm  or  depress  with  fear 
As  now  they  burst,  now  sink  upon  the  ear. 
Even  shadow,  held  of  all  terrestrial  things 
Most  fleeting — the  daguerreotypist  brings 
Within  the  range  of  certain  laws,  and  see 
The  shadow's  fixed  l>y  spontaneity ! 
And  thus,  the  changing  forms  of  Earth  have 

been 

Produced.     Thro'  each  succeeding  era  seen 
Developed  to  superior  orders  still — 
Each  range  of  rocks  the  circle  vast  to  fill; 
And  these  again  volcanically  rent, 
With  matter  new,  projected  thro'  each  vent, 
Which  new  conditions  still  evoke  effects, 
And  counter-causes  all  the  old  rejects — 
Sweeping  away  successive  races  still, 
Which  have  played  out   the   part   they  were  to 

fill; 

Progressive  steps,  toward  a  completed  whole, 
Which  under  laws  eternal  ceaseless  roll ! 
For  all  must  know,  the  lofty  pines  that  rise 
In  grandeur  towering  to  the  bending  skies, 


56  PKOGRESSION. 

Sprang  from  the  simple  cone  in  earth's  dark  bed, 

As  tender  saplings  first,  ere  overhead 

Their  green   plumes  wave  where    eagles  proudly 

soar — 

And  animals  and  worlds  can  do  no  more — 
For  all  from  germs  to  forms  complete  progress, 
'T  is  nature's  law,  'gainst  which  there  's  no  redress  ! 

Each  discord  has  its  harmony,  each  storm 
Its  calm,  each  light  its  shade,  and  every  form 
Of  pain  its  pleasure,  every  throb  its  rest, 
Each  aim  its  object ;  and  tho'  last,  still  best 
"We  find  on  earth  that  each  thing  has  its  place, 
In  the  triumphal  march,  the  mighty  race 
From  inanition  to  intelligence  ; 
And  still  progressing  upward,  onward,  thence 
To  immortality — when  faith  shall  rise 
Exultant  o'er  the  grave  to  glorious  skies  ! 

We  find  in  nature,  certain  substances 
That  form  connecting  ties,  which  by  degrees, 
From  matter  lead  to  life ;  thence,  link  by  link, 
From  lowest  form  that  trembles  on  the  brink 
Of  being,  up  to  man.     As  bitumen 
And  sulphur  are  the  links  the  earth  between 
And  metals ;  vitriols,  metals  join,  't  is  known, 


THE  EARTH. 


57 


With  salts;  crystallizations,  salts  with  stone; 

The  amianthis  and  cytophites 

Most  surely  form  a  certain  species 

Of  tie  'twixt  stones  and  plants ;  the  polypus 

'Tween  plants  and   insects;  and  the    tube-worm, 

thus 

Leads  off  to  shells  and  reptiles ;  then,  the  eel 
And  water-serpent,  also,  seem  to  steal 
A  path  from  reptiles  on  to  fish ;  a  medium 
'Tween  fish  and  birds,  the  anas  nigra  come; 
The  bat  and  flying-squirrel  still  link  birds 
To  quadrupeds ;  and  so,  the  chattering  herds 
Of  monkeys,  are  the  band  'twixt  beast  and  man. 
A  chain  of  beings  on  progressive  plan. 

We  see  effects  of  natural  law,  where'er 
We  turn  our  eyes  upon  the  rolling  sphere; 
Effects,  from  which  we  m^st  this  fact  deduce : 
That  't  is  conditions  proper  which  produce 
Each  change  of  verdure  and  organic  life  ! 
One  step  beyond  a  previous  order,  rife. 
With  principles  progressive,  ever  gives 
Advancing  types  of  everything  that  lives, 
Or  being  has,  upon  prolific  Earth. 
And  thus  it  is,  the  individual  birth 


L_ 


58  PROGRESSION. 

Of  a  new  form  of  verdure,  sprang  from  change 
In  the  conditions  since  the  previous  range, 
Thus  differing  the  effects.     We  also  see, 
Spontaneous   growth    of   flower,  bush,   shrub,  or 

tree, 

In  this  wise:  When  salt-springs  upon  the  land 
Break  out  far  from  the  sea,  on  every  hand 
Do  salt  or  seaside  plants  spring  up,  tho'  none 
Grew  there  before.     And  this  is  only  one 
Example.      Mold  from    vast   depths   thrown,    we 

know, 

Exposed  to  atmospheric  action,  so 
Becomes  spontaneously  verdure  clad 
With  plants  that  there  no  previous  being  had. 
When  lakes  are  drained  new  vegetation  springs. 
And  among  other  proved  spontaneous  things, 
"Pis  told,  when  London  was  laid  low  by  fire, 
The  surface  of  the  ruined  part,  entire, 
Became  completely  covered  with  the  plant 
Sisymbrium  irio  !    And  there  are  extant 
Innumerable  instances'  to  show 
Spontaneous  production  here  below. 

Nor  only  vegatation  thus  induced — 
Organic  life  is  by  like  means  produced. 


THE  EAKTH.  59 

>_J 

The  mites  we  see  in  cheese  spontaneous  spring ; 
And   close-kept  furs  their   stock  of    moths   will 

bring, 

As  foul-kept  hedges  generate  the  slug. 
These  actions  all  admit,  who  do  not  hug 
Delusion  as  their  guide,  and  still  deny 
Existence,  but  as  work  of  Deity 
In  propria  persona,  nor  pause 
To  ask  themselves,  why  universal  laws 
In  one  department  of  creation  may 
Not  work  as  well  as  in  another  ?     Say 
Does  it  not  elevate  our  Maker  more, 
That  by  these  laws,  mysterious,  slow  and  sure, 
And  never-failing,  all  things  are  produced  ? 
Than  to  suppose  him  (mortal-like)  reduced 
To  fashion  with  Jiis  hands  the  model,  whence 
Each  prototype   (by  different  process)  thence 
Was  ever  after  to  be  made  ?     Weak,  weak, 
The  causality  that  thus  would  seek 
To  blind  itself,  and  bring  Divinity 
To  human  standard! 

All  these  orbs  we  see 

Rolling  thro'  space,  have  in  like  way  progressed 
From  comprehensive  germ,  which  all  the  rest 


60  PROGRESSION. 

Of  future  grand  development  evolved. 

This  is  self-evident.     Yet  man — resolved 

In  bold  defiance  of  known  nature's  laws, 

And  even  while  admitting  a  First  Cause — 

Asserts  a  direct  act  of  Divine  power 

Which  placed  him  here,  to  live  his  little  hour, 

A  trifle  longer  than  the  ephemera ! 

The  God  of  many  worlds !  by  whose  wise  law 

Great  systems  circle — forced  to  interfere 

With  His  established  laws  to  usher  here, 

Weak  man  upon  the  theater  of  his 

Existence!     0,  if  Atheism  is 

Extant,  'tis  in  a  creed  like  this,  which  gives 

To  God  a  limit ! 

Ah!  there  surely  lives 
Not  a  reflective  mind  but  sees  how  far 
Above  all  mortal  power  God's  workings  are ! 
His  workings,  thro'  eternities  unchanged, 
Thro'  all  departments  of  creation  ranged 
On  principles  which  human  skill  defy 
To  alter,  for  their  superstructures  lie 
On  one  firm  basis — Order !  which  is  known, 
To  be  in  nature  the  great  corner-stone, 
On  which  is  reared  the  towering  fanes  where  swell 


THE   EARTH.  61 

The  paeans  grand,  their  Author's  praise  to  tell ! 
The  arching  skies  that  roof  cathedrals  vast, 
Ionic  columned  in  Time's  quarry  cast, 
And  hung  with  pictures  which  a  Claude  Lorraine, 
Might  ceaseless  strive  to  imitate  in  vain ; 
Where  every  whispering  breeze  and  waving  leaf, 
Conveys  a  moral  or  a  sermon  brief; 
Where  feathered  choristers  harmonious  raise, 
Their  untaught  anthems  of  melodious  praise, 
And  incense  rising  from  the  flowers,  floats  thro' 
The  ivied  portals  wet  with  morning  dew; 
And  Man,  the  High  Priest,  at  the  altar  stands, 
Confirmed  as  such  by  God's  most  holy  hands  I 
Who  gives  to  him  dominion  o'er  the  earth, 
And  every  living  thing  that  there  claims  birth ; 
Fish  in  the  seas,  and  fowls  that  cleave  the  air, 
Cattle,  and  creeping  thing  that  moveth  there — 
All  these  in  man  their  master  still  must  find, 
And  bow  before  the  majesty  of  mind! 
Yea,  mind !  the  light  planned  by  Divinity, 
To  be  developed  when  the  clay  should  be 
Progressed  upon  the  earth  thro'  ever  still 
Succeeding  species  upward,  higher,  till 
The  full-formed  being  shone  with  godlike  brow, 


62  PKOGRESSION. 

Its  Maker's  image,  to  which  all  things  bow! 
That  by  this  all-controlling  principle 
Of  mind,  should  be  almost  invincible, 
And  fitted  for  a  future  glorious  race, 
Of  immortality  and  endless  grace. 

Away  with  superstition,  whine,  and  cant ! 
For  sound  reflection's  all  we  ever  want 
To  teach  us  mighty  truths.     An  eye  to  see, 
A  heart  to  feel  the  works  of  Deity! 
A  mind  unprejudiced  by  bigotry — 
A  soul  from  all  sectarianism  free, 
That  gives  God  praise  for  all  that  round  us  lies, 
And   makes   him   Lord  of   earth,  and   seas,  and 

skies ! 

Progenitor  of  laws  progressing  still, 
Thro'  whole  eternities  to  work  his  will, 
In  minute  steps,  which  fall,  as  falls  the  sand 
To  mark  the  hours — around  on  every  hand, 
Till  from  the  atom  mighty  worlds  round  out, 
And  new  conditions  ever  bring  about 
Their  changes,  till  those  rolling  worlds  have  given 
In  man,  the  link  between  all  earths  and  Heaven ! 

And  thus,  the  morning  stars  shall  sing  for  joy ! 
Each  planet  praises  ring  without  alloy, 


THE  EARTH.  63 

When  to  that  point  progressed  which  ushers  man 

Upon  his  scene  of  being — which  began 

O'er  earth  to  dawn  as  closed  the  era  known 

As  that  of  Tertiary  Formations,  shown 

To  contain  the  traces  of  existence  still 

Of  higher  types,  the  ascending  scale  to  fill. 

And  we  have  seen  that  each  successive  race 

Was  swept  away,  yet  leaving  still  a  trace 

To  mark  that  once  they  lived.       Research  doth 

show 

In  that  remote,  far  distant  "  long  ago," 
That  five  distinct,  successive  races  vast, 
Of  plants  existed,  now  gulfed  in  the  past; 
And  four  distinct,  successive  races  more, 
Of  animals,  lived  in  those  days  of  yore, 
Before  the  present  race,  with  man,  appeared. 
How  many  countless  ages  may  have  reared 
Their  cycles  o'er  the  rolling  earth  the  while, 
We  know  not.     When  we  view  each  ponderous  pile 
Of  mineral  productions — each  coal-bed 
Whose  fossil  masses  o'er  vast  areas  spread ; 
And  think  what  time's  required  to  vegetate, 
And  to  produce  the  carbon,  which  in  great 
Quantities,  all  coal-fields  generate; 


64  PROGRESSION. 

Or  cast  our  glances  o'er  the  towering  blocks 

Of  solid  stratified,  or  aqueous  rocks 

Which  old  retreating  oceans  have  laid  bare, 

And  think  by  what  slow  process,  layer  on  layer, 

Their  present  bulk's  attained;  or  turn  our  eyes 

To  where  the  fierce  volcanic  fires  arise 

From  Hecla's  regions  of  perpetual  snow — 

See  Etna's  hissing,  surging,  molten  flow 

Of  lava — and  Vesuvius,  Stromboli, 

And  numbers  in  the  isles  of  the  South  Sea — 

In  Asia,  Africa,  America, 

Where'er  these  furnaces  projected  are — 

And  then  reflect,  no  human  records  show 

The  moment  when  these  fires  began  to  glow 

(With  but  a  few  exceptions)  in  each  mount, 

That  from  time  immemorial's  been  the  fount 

Whose  seething  jets  fall  in  a  golden  rain 

To  make  another  Danae  of  each  plain ! 

And  that  each  mountain  range  that  girts  our  earth, 

Owes  to  such  inward  struggle  still  its  birth — 

And  all  by  slow,  progressive  steps,  't  is  seen, 

Developed  to  their  present  state  have  been — 

The  mind  shrinks  back,  and  fails  to  grasp  the  sum 

Of  multiplying  units  as  they  come 


THE  EARTH.  65 

To  give  the  age  of  Earth ! 

Man's  life's  a  rill 

Beside  creation's  gulf — a  fraction  still 
Of  a  compounded  whole — a  drop  within 
Time's  ever  rolling  ocean  circling — 
A  second  on  the  dial's  endless  round — 
A  mote  in  Nature's  golden  sunbeam  found — 
A  tiny  mountain  stream  by  torrent  free, 
But  flowing  on  to  swell  the  tidal  sea 
Of  Progress !     Such  the  destiny  of  man, 
And  worlds,  and  systems,  since  Time's  march  began. 
6 


WE  now  must  solve  the  mighty  problem,  Man ! 
Roll  back  the  curtain,  Faith !  that  we  may  scan 
His  attributes — and  thou,  0  mother  Earth ! 
Turn  to  the  page  whereon  we  read  his  birth 
Recorded  in  Old  Time's  Biography — 
Tho'  entered  there  in  quaint  stenography, 
'Tis  to  the  eye  of  Reason,  lettered  clear ! 

Now,  "  Open  Sesame."     What  see  we  here  ? 
A  point  where  ceaseless  progress  has  evolved 
Conditions  new,  and  Nature  has  resolved 
To  test  her  powers,  a  higher  race  to  give 
In  her  ancestral  palaces  to  live. 
We've  seen  her  handiwork,  her  curious  chain 
Of  plants  and  animals,  progress  amain, 
From  sea-weeds  to  land  plants,  the  simplest,  first, 
Ere  to  fruition  the  more  complex  burst — 
Her  life  organic,  in  the  humble  forms 
Of  zoophytes,  radiata,  swarms 
(66) 


MAN.  67 

Of  mollusca,  articulata,  ere 

A  higher  order  shone  upon  our  sphere; 

Then  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  mammalia 

(First  of  which  is  marsupialia, 

The  lowest  forms  of  mammifers)  are  seen, 

Each  a  progressive  step  from  what  has  been, 

And  giving  earnest,  still,  of  what  may  be 

Developed  yet,  thro'  all  eternity  ! 

And  showing  how  all  forms  are  bound  in  one 

Upon  our  globe — a  mighty  chain,  begun 

'Mongst  lowliest  mosses,  onward,  link  by  link, 

Binding  organic  things,  till  on  the  brink 

Of  immortality,  it  circles  man, 

Last  of  created  things,  whose  mortal  span 

Of  life  being  o'er,  shall  then  triumphant  rise 

To  his  new  form  of  being  in  the  skies ! 

The  physiologist  observes,  each  animal 
Progresses  still,  while  in  the  germinal, 
Thro'  changes,  all  resembling  the  forms 
Of  lower  orders  in  the  scale.     The  worms, 
Being  lowest  of  articulata — see, 
An  insect  at  the  order's  head,  will  be 
In  larva  state,  an  annelid,  or  worm ; 
And  thus,  with  every  embryo,  or  germ. 


68  PROGRESSION. 

The  frog  is  first  a  fish  with  gills,  to  fit 

It  for  aquatic  life — and  still,  as  it 

Advances  to  maturity,  a  change 

In  its  formation,  then  admits  its  range 

Upon  the  land.     And  higher  classes  still 

Of  mammifers,  the  fixed  forms  must  fill 

In  embryo,  of  orders  in  the  scale 

Beneath  them.     Even  mighty  man  don't  fail 

In  this  fulfillment  of  the  law — 'tis  shown, 

His  organization  passes  thro'  all  known 

Conditions,  in  the  germinal,  and  gives 

(In  resemblance  only)  type  of  each  that  lives 

The  permanent  established  form,  below 

Him,  of  the  various  orders  as  they  go 

Advancing  upward.     His  first  form  is  shown 

That,  which  in  animalcules  is  known 

To  be  fixed  ;  his  brain  will  then  assume 

The  form  of  a  true  fish's ;  then  't  will  loom 

The  more  distinct  brain  of  a  reptile ;  still 

In  transitu,  a  bird's,  a  rodent's,  will 

The  type  be ;  then,  that  of  a  ruminant — 

Digitigrada's  the  next  type  we  want, 

And  lo !  the  foetal  brain  evolves  it  now ; 

Then  the  next  change,  and  nearly  last,  will  show 


MAN.  69 

The  characteristics  of  the  perfect  ape  ; 
This  when  supprest,  there  seems  to  be  a  gap 
In  the  ascending  scale — 't  is  then,  that  man, 
Formed  from  each  creature's  best,  by  Wisdom's 

plan, 

The  human  type  assumes.     That  is,  the  brain 
Is  then  complete,  the  last  link  in  the  chain 
Of  earthly  things,  that  yet  have  been  exhumed 
From  the  prolific  dust  of  ages  !  tombed 
In  whose  vast  mausoleum  mighty  Truth 
Has  dormant    lain  thro'  the   world's    thoughtless 

youth ; 

But  Reason's  trump,  like  Gabriel's  blast,  shall  wake 
The  dead — the  tower  of  Superstition  shake, 
Until  its  weakened  portals  crumbling  fall, 
And  grandly  o'er  the  charred  and  somber  pall 
Of  blackened  ashes,  buried  Truth  shall  rise, 
A  phoenix  soaring  in  effulgent  skies  ! 

That  man 's  an  animal,  his  attributes 
Must  plainly  prove,  and  silence  all  disputes. 
Considered  zoologically,  he 
The  type  above  all  others,  seems  to  be ; 
The  head  of  animated  nature  here. 
And  as,  in  every  order  on  our  sphere 


70  PROGRESSION. 

Are  different  species  existing  found, 

So,  in  Bimana,  differing  types  abound, 

From  lower  ranging  to  the  higher  still, 

The  order's  circle  thus  complete  to  fill. 

We  '11  give  each  species,  as  't  is  shown  their  birth 

Successively  took  place  upon  the  earth, 

Where  climate  and  conditions  governed  each 

Advance,  as  all  effects  full  surely  teach 

The  first,  then,  of  the  genus  homo  (shown 
By  all  analogy  in  nature  known, 
To  be  spontaneously  produced),  appeared 
When  atmospheres  caloric  far  upreared 
A  torrid  climate  o'er  the  rolling  earth, 
Too  hot  for  other  forms  of  human  birth 
Than  that,  by  constitution,  color,  seen 
Adapted  to  withstand  the  heat,  has  been, 
And  still  is,  relatively  speaking,  shown 
To  be  confined  to  torrid  climes — the  known, 
Thick-lipped,  flat-nosed,  and  frizzled,  woolly- haired 
Inhabitant  of  Africa.     Compared 
With  other  known  conditions  of  mankind, 
This  species,  in  their  barbarism,  blind 
Superstitions,  and  loose  morals,  and  in 
Their  intellectual  desolation  (twin 


MAN.  71 

Children  of  one  parent),  their  features  coarse, 
Their  dark,  ungainly  forms,  and  voices  hoarse — 
In  all  these,  differ,  more  than  do  the  rest 
From  that  type  known  to  be  the  last  and  best — 
The  Indo-European  or  Caucasian  race. 
( Our  own  impartial  Jefferson  did  trace 
Between  the  Black  and  White  man,  many  points 
Of  difference.     He  says  :  The  Black  anoints 
His  body  more  profusely  than  the  White 
With  perspiration ;  and  there  is  a  slight 
Difference  in  the  arrangement  of  the  mass 
Of  lungs,  by  which,  't  is  clear,  the  Black  can  pass 
His  breath  with  greater  force  than  the  White  man ; 
Less  beard  he  has  his  mouth's  broad  arch  to  span ; 
And  in  th,e  shape  of  body,  color,  hair, 
They  differ  ;  while  the  Negro's  needful  share 
Of  sleep  requires  to  be  less  than  the  White's; 
The  ardor  of  his  love  display  invites, 
But  deals  less  in  imagination  than 
That  of  the  more   idealistic   man, 
Whose   finer  organization   leads  to  less 
Of  animal  preponderance  and  excess. 
The  Black  is  more  adventurous,  while  his  grief 
More  transient  is,  and  quicker  finds  relief; 


72  PROGRESSION. 

Less  he  reflects ;  his  reasoning  powers  are 

Decidedly  inferior ;  by  far 

His  mind's   best  feature,  memory, 

Which,  equal  to  the  White's  is  known  to  be  ; 

But  not  imagination  :  dull  in  the  extreme 

This  faculty — while  but   a  partial  gleam 

Of  bright  originality  he  shows — 

And  no  poetic  tendency  e'er  glows 

Within  his  brain's  dark  chambers ;  or  no  turn 

For  painting,  sculpture,  there  in  raptures  burn  ! 

With  quite  as  good    an  ear  for  music,  still 

In  composing  he  evinces  little  skill ; 

And  many  other  points  of  diiference 

As  great,  exist  between  the  two  ;  't  is  thence 

The  line  of  demarcation  is  made  clear.) 

The  intermediate  types  distinct  appear 

In  color,  feature,  form,   and  attributes 

Progressive,  even  as  they  're  shown  in  brutes — 

From  low  to  high,  and  higher  still,  they  're  seen 

In  man.     We  also  see,  there  was,  between 

The  production  of  each  varied  species, 

In  the  earth's  temperature  a  sure  decrease, 

Evolving  new  conditions,  so,  to  bring 

The  next  advancing  type  within  the  ring. 


MAN.  73 

And  thus,  the  next  above  the  Negro,  is 
The  Malay.     Of  a  blackish  brown  is  his 
Complexion,  broad  his  nose,  and  coarse  and  straight 
His  hair.     Inhabitant  of  all  the  great 
Broad  chain  of  islands  in  the  Southern  Sea, 
And  most  of  the  East  Indian  isles  is  he. 
And  scarcely  less  a  savage  than  the  first 
Of  liomo,  in  his  roving  life  and  thirst 
For  wild  adventure.     And  his  skull  is  found 
By  the  phrenologist,  but   to  abound 
In  characters,  which    tho'  they  plainly  tell 
Of  energy  and  courage,  yet  as  well 
Of  stubbornness  and  harshness  there  that  be, 
And  intellectual  incapacity 
Extreme,  combined  with  selfishness  : 
While  every  talent  requisite  to  bless 
And  to  improve  mankind,  defective  is ; 
And  ideality  is  so  small  in  his 
Development,  that  't  is  not  strange  we  find 
Him  in  the  social  scale  so  far  behind 
His  European  brethren.     And  it  is 
Because  the  animal  preponderates,  that  his 
Cannibalistic  habits  operate  ; 

For  most  of  these  savage  hordes  will  satiate 

I,  ° 

7 


74  PROGRESSION. 

Their  appetite  for  blood,  and  roast  and  eat, 
Not  only  enemies,  but — -to  complete, 
If  possible,  their  barbarism — make 
Their  bestial  meals  on  infants ;  or  they  take 
Revenge  in  this  way,  on  absconding  slaves, 
Nor  lay  restrictions  on  the  act  by  halves. 
And  like  atrocities  prove  them  to  be 
Not  far  removed  above  the  brute. 

We  see 

The  next  advance  in  human  order,  lies 
Within  that  land  arched  o'er  by  Western  skies, 
Where  giant  mountain   ranges  fortified 
The  wide-spread  plains,  and  the  exultant  tide 
Of  grand   Niagara  shouted  forth  its  praise 
To  the  Most  High  !  and  gave,  in  rainbow  rays, 
An  everlasting  arch,  as  covenant 
Of  Peace  to  be  o'er  that  broad  land  extant, 
When  the  vast  wilderness  should,  as  the  rose, 
Bloom  in  serene,  majestical  repose  ; 
The  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  give  way 
Before  the  march  of  empire — the  noonday 
Sun  of  civilization  ! 

Yes,  'tis  He, 
The  Red  Man  of  the  forest,  now,  that  we 


MAN.  75 

Must  introduce  upon  the  theater 
Of  mortal  life.     For  he  was,  we  infer 
From  doubtless  proofs  that  nature  gives,  the  third 
Species  of  mankind — and  surely  born  to  herd 
Where  range  the  bear,  and  elk,  and  buffalo. 
Remove  him  from  his  forest  home,  in  wo 
Untold  you  steep  him  ;  for  the  glorious  light 
Of  the  great  Sun,  the  sparkling  stars  of  night, 
The  springing  sapling  and  the  russet  brown 
Of  autumn's  leaf,  the  meadow's  emerald  down, 
The  flight  of  swallows  in  the  early  spring, 
The  changing  plumage  of  each  warbler's  wing; 
Each  varied  garb  that  Nature  dons  at  will, 
Each  mighty  river  and  each  tiny  rill ; 
Each  footprint  on  the  forest's  path  of  leaves, 
Or  curious  house  of  silk  the  insect  weaves; 
Each  line  of  fog  above  a  water-course, 
Or  blasted  pine,  or  foaming  torrent,  hoarse 
With  screaming  to  the  rocks ;  each  blade  of  grass 
That  waves  a  welcome  when  the  wild  winds  pass, 
And  every  tree,  shrub,  bush,  or  bended  twig, 
Is  to  his  eye  with  nature's  teachings  big ! 
The  only  volume  on  whose  page  he  '11  look 
Is  her  illimitable,  mighty  book; 


76  PROGRESSION. 

The  only  logic  that  his  reason  heeds, 
Is  to  divine  all  motives  by  their  deeds ; 
His  only  creed  (not  versed  in  written  word), 
To  "look  thro'  nature  up  to  nature's  God!" 

In  this  untutored  forest  child,  we  see 
High  reverence  for  an  unknown  Deity — 
A  great  pervading  Spirit !  by  whose  power 
And  will,  all  things  live  out  their  destined  hour. 
A  mighty  Spirit!  who  not  only  gives 
The  earthly  lodge  wherein  each  warrior  lives, 
The  grand  old  woods  where  he  may  track  the  deer, 
The  prairie's  herds  for  his  amusement  here — 
But,  in  that  land  beyond  the  setting  sun, 
Where    each   Brave   goes  when  mortal   combat's 

done, 
He  spreads    the  "Happy  Hunting-Grounds"  for 

his 

*Red  children !     0,  let  us  despise  not  this 
High  prompting  in  the  savage  heart,  which  tells 
Of  life  beyond  the  grave  !     What  tho'  there  swells 
From  his  bloodthirsty  lip,  the  wild  war-whoop, 
And  in  fierce  torture  he  disdains  to  stoop 
To  supplication — tho'  he  's  treacherous, 
Revengeful,  cruel,  cunning;  still,  with  us, 


MAN.  77 

Who  claim  to  be  enlightened,  he  must  share 
A  meed  of  praise ;  for  rude  and  wild  as  are 
His  habits,  still  he  reverences  all  things 
Which  appertain  to  Deity,  and  brings 
The  human  standard  nearer  to  the  goal 
Where  the  immortal  promptings  of  the  soul 
Are  heard  thro'  the  dull  clay. 

True,  that  with  him, 
We  find  this  principle  is  sadly  dim 
In  moral  aptitudes ;  and  but  arrays 
The  life  to  come  with  hue  of  mortal  days, 
And  crowned  with  pleasures  for  the  pulse  of  sense 
To  throb  to — not  the  heavenly  raptures,  whence 
The  soul  of  intellect  drinks  in  new  light ! 
But  shaded  with  the  drapery  of  earth's  night, 
When  the  long-dormant  spirit  first  begins 
To  plume  itself  for  higher  flight,  arid  wins, 
In  the  mere  effort,  glimpses  of  a  sphere 
Of  happier  being  than  surrounds  it  here — 
Of  immortality  and  endless  bliss, 
In  higher  realms  when  toil  is  o'er  in  this ! 
And  if  that  future  is  thus  clothed  with  joys, 
That  here  below  please  with  their  gilded  toys ; 
'Tis  that  the  spirit  yet  is  in  its  youth, 


78  PROGRESSION. 

Nor  reached  the  portal  of  its  manhood's  truth ; 
But  trammeled  with  dull  matter's  leading-strings, 
Which   blend   their   earthly   hues   with   heavenly 

things, 

Thus  coloring  all  its  high  imaginings — 
It  looks  to  that  bright  land  to  come,  as  one 
Of  animal  enjoyment.     Yet,  begun, 
The  soul's  high  questioning  in  the  Indian's  breast, 
Which  bids  it  ask  a  higher,  better  rest 
Than  earth  affords,  and  seek  a  God  above 
The  wooden  deity  of  Pagan  love ; 
An  All-wise  God  that  made  all  things;  not  one, 
By  man  constructed  from  a  block  or  stone. 
And  surely  here  are  dawnings  of  a  light 
That  yet  should  chase  the  blackness  of  the  night 
Of  Heathenism,  and  progressing  on 
To  broader  daylight,  fall  in  rays  upon 
The  sacred  mount  whereon  the  living  God 
Gave  to  enlightened  man  his  holy  Word! 
When  Sinai's  Hill  in  bright  effulgence  shone, 
And  to  the  ripened  creature  of  his  own 
Progressive  work,  he  gave  his  laws  supreme, 
To  govern  ALL,  when  full  and  wide  the  stream 
Of  golden  glory,  from  the  coming  Sun 

—         1 


MAN.  79 

Of  Christianity,  should  fall  upon 

The  desert's  palm,  the  islands  of  the  sea, 

The  bright,  "  all-perfect  day  "  that  'a  yet  to  be, 

When  kindreds,  nations,  tongues,  with  rapt  accords, 

Shall   own   him   "King   of    kings    and    Lord   of 

lords!" 

The  next  advancing  human  grade,  to  these, 
America's  wild  aborigines, 
Is  the  Mongolian  type,  and  perfect  found, 
Within  the  guarded,  walled,  forbidden  ground 
Of  the  Celestial  Empire ;  where  the  eye 
Of  curiosity  in  vain  may  pry 
To  gain  the  secret  of  each  quaint  device, 
Or  queer  contrivance ;  where  chop-sticks  and  rice, 
Souchong  and  pig- tails  flourish;  and  the  Sun, 
High  on  his  amber  throne,  is  looked  upon 
As  the  Omnipotent,  Omniscient  One! 
The  idol  of  their  worship. 

Nor  can  we, 

To  whom  more  light 's  been  given,  fail  to  see 
In  this  idolatry,  a  beauty  still ; 
For  what  more  calculated  is,  to  fill 
The  mind  with  awe,  sublimity,  than  yon 
Bright  orb,  whose  fiery  feet  glide  noiseless  on 


80  PKOGRESSION. 

The    sapphire    walls  of    space?    whose    glowing 

eyes 

Bring  morn's  soft  blushes  to  the  pale-faced  skies ; 
Whose  golden  locks  fall  in  a  yellow  rain 
To  fructify  and  fertilize  each  plain; 
Whose  breathings  warm  unseal  the  flowers'  closed 

lips, 

And  opening  leaf,  unfolding  blossom,  sips 
The  mild,  ethereal  nectar,  till  it  blooms 
In    glowing    raiment  —  all,    from    night's    dark 

tombs 

Rising  to  matins  pure,  devotional — 
Each  morning's  praises,  resurrcctional, 
That  float  from  lawn  and  grove,  mount,  vale  and 

plain, 

When  Death's  twin-sister,  Sleep,  gives  up  again 
Her  charge,  and  Sol's  bright  wand  sweeps  back 

the  pall 

Of  darkness  from  the  earth's  green  couch,  and  all 
Of  animated  nature  in  the  grand 
Anthem  join,  to  hail  his  advent  bland, 
As  up  the  orient's  jeweled  steps  he  hies, 
Day's  light-crowned  king,  whose  throne  is  in  the 

skies ! 


MAN.  81 

No  wonder,  then,  that  man,  by  reason  taught 
To  look  for  cause  where'er  effect  is  wrought, 
Should,  in  his  primitive  intelligence, 
Turn  to  that  orb's  refulgent  splendor,  whence 
All    things   are   touched   with   glory,    and   there 

find 

Presumptive  evidence  of  power,  combined 
With  light,  life-giving  attributes  and  heat 
Dispensing  properties — in  fact,  complete 
Investments  of  each  wondrous  quality, 
Unscientific  minds  to  Deity 
Ascribe — and  learn  to  love  and  worship,  this 
The  source  of  every  blessing  known  in  his 
Experience. 

This  worship  still  will  last 
Until  the  heavy  cloud  the  night  has  cast — 
The  night  of  mental  darkness — parts  its  fold, 
As  glimmers  from  the  better  time,  foretold 
In  prophet  vision,  rend  the  mist  to  let 
The  daylight  in,  whose  rising  Sun  will  set 
Not;  but  widening  to  a  broad  stream 
Of  living  glory,  brightening  in  the  gleam 
Of  light  divine,  shall  flow  o'er  every  land, 
And  "Bramah"  fall  at  the  Divine  command! 


82  PROGRESSION. 

Unhallowed  Ganges'  waves  give  up  the  ghost 

Of  buried  Paganism ;  and  the  host 

Of  heathen,  at  Messiah's  feet  lay  down 

Their  impious  rites,  and  own  the  Thorny  Crown 

As  brighter  gem  than  "Vishnu's"  diamond  eyes; 

And  feel  within  their  souls,  more  merit  lies 

In  crucifying  selfish  passions,  than 

In  fanatic  prostrations  in  the  van 

Of  Juggernaut's  triumphal  car ! 

Roll  on, 

0  Earth!  and  haste  the  time — for  see,  upon 
The  mount  the  watchman  stands,  and  waits  to  hail 
The  coming  light,  whose  noonday  shall  prevail, 
When  ALL  shall  join  the  anthem  :  "  Blessed  is  he 
That  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ! "  and  be 
Bound  with  the  cords  of  love  and  unity ! 

"We  now  come  to  the  last,  best  type  of  all 
The  human  race,  upon  this  rolling  ball, 
Spontaneously  formed:  the  Caucasian. 
In  color,  form,  proportions,  we  may  scan 
All  other  species,  none  with  this  compare ; 
For  elegance  symmetrical  we  there 
With  beauty  find  combined ;  at  least,  what  WE 
Consider  such ;  for  other  people  see 


MAN.  83 

With  other  eyes — as  the  stained  fingers,  lips 
Of  indigo,  black  brows  and  red  toe-tips 
Of  the  Arabian  belle ;  the  crippled  feet 
Of  Chinese  beauty ;  and  the  most  complete 
Of  checker-boards  the  Hottentot  imprints 
Upon  her  body,  in  decided  tints 
Of  red  and  black,  to  captivate  the  eye ; 
The  Greenland  women's  blue  and  yellow  dye 
With  which  they  stain  their  faces ;  and 
The  tattooed  beauties  on  the  golden  strand 
Of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  plainly  tell ; 
And  also,  of  barbaric  tastes  that  dwell 
In  human  bosoms.     For  in  these  we  find 
No  homage  paid  to  mighty,  godlike  mind ! 
'T  is  in  the  true  Caucasian  type  we  see 
Alone,  this  principle  complete,  to  be 
The  means,  as  time  progresses,  to  subdue 
The  savage,  quell  the  rude,  and  plant  the  true 
And  perfect  principles  of  mortal  life ; 
And  barbarism,  butchery,  and  strife, 
Will  be  remembered  only  as  the  clouds 
Which  vail   the   sunrise,  when   earth's   mist   en 
shrouds 
The  couch  of  morn  with  waving  draperies  gray ; 


84  PROGRESSION. 

But,  as  the  warm,  bright  sun  (like  truth)  away 
To  the  high  zenith  springs,  his  piercing  ray 
Parts  the  dun  curtain,  and  lets  in  the  light, 
And  to  the  dark  dominions  of  the  night, 
The  cloud-like  mist  descends ;  so  mind  will  yet 
O'er  matter  triumph ;  and  the  world  forget 
In  the  bright  future  that  is  still  to  be, 
That  superstition,  wrong,  and  cruelty 
E'er  marred  the  human  race ! 

But  all  in  time 

This  happy  change  will  be.     The  passing  chime 
Of  centuries  must  sound  the  dirge  of  each 
Old  fallacy  or  rotten  creed,  to  teach 
Immortal  truths  to  man  !     Bigots  may  preach 
Of  universal  charity  and  love, 
The  while  their  lives  the  contrary  doth  prove — 
Or  rear  His  standard  as  the  Prince  of  Peace ! 
And  claim  to  be  disciples,  yet  ne'er  cease 
To  throw  the  gauntlet  at  their  fellow-man 
Who  different  views  has  of  Almighty  plan ; 
Or  place  a  stumbling-block  where  humble  feet 
Would  climb,  to  bend  before  the  mercy-seat ; 
And  clothe  their  king  with  thunders  such  as  Jove 
Would  hurl — not  sweet,  forgiving  smiles  of  love, 


MAN.  85 

To  lure  the  sinner  back  to  beaten  track — 

But  with  the  torturing  whip,  the  scourge,  the  rack 

Of  fierce  anathema,  pour  forth  a  blast 

Of  dark  revenge  to  be,  for  errors  past, 

Taken  by  Him,  the  God  of  Mercy ! 

See, 

When  the  bleeding  Savior  hung  upon  the  tree, 
Upon  his  foes  he  cast  his  pitying  eyes, 
Then  raised  them  meekly  to  the  lowering  skies, 
And  prayed :  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
Not  what  they  do !"     And  this  the  love  below — 
This  the  bright  spirit  which  o'er  earth  must  sweep 
Her  radiant  wings,  her  tireless  vigils  keep, 
Ere  lambs  with  lions  couch — ere  man  for  man 
Feels  as  for  self!     Meek  charity  the  van 
Must  take  in  human  hearts,  and  tender,  pitying  love, 
For  weak  mortality — ere,  like  a  dove, 
Sweet  Peace,  with  all  her  blessings  in  her  train, 
Will  soft  descend,  and,  like  the  summer's  rain, 
Waken  to  life  the  flowers  of  gentleness, 
Dear  buds  of  hope  to  comfort  and  to  bless, 
While  seeds  of  promise  quicken  fast  to  life 
Beneath  her  genial  influence — which  strife, 
With  harsh  breathings,  else  had  chilled. 


86  PROGRESSION. 

0  man  ! 

Thy  brother's  nature  strictly,  strictly  scan, 
Ere  censuring  him  ;•  and  then,  pause,  still  pause, 
And  for  his  weakness,  mayhap,  a  cause 
Will  show  itself,  which  will  your  pity  wake, 
And  banish  hatred  for  compassion's  sake 
Thus,  in  your  heart  you  '11  plant  a  goodly  seed, 
To  bring  forth  tenfold  for  the  spirit's  need; 
To  bear  immortal  fruit  whose  bright'ning  bloom 
Will  gild  thy  passage  to  the  darksome  tomb, 
And  branching  there,  to  brighter  skies,  will  spread 
In  fadeless  laurels  o'er  your  victor  head ! 
For,  who  so  great  a  conqueror,  as  he 
O'er  self  victorious  ?  and  who  yet  can  see 
A  fellow-being  in  the  outcast  one 
Whom  the  self-righteous  Pharisee  doth  shun, 
And  by  a  word  of  kindness,  aptly  said, 
Pour  balm  on  wounds  that  long  have  inly  bled ; 
Heal  the  dark  sore  of  sin  by  gentle  word, 
And  lead  an  erring  brother  back  to  God  ! 

These,  the  conditions,  which  to  man  will  bring 
The  ethereal  mildness  of  Millennium  spring, 
When  human  hearts  with  gentle  pity  flow, 
And  brother  seeks  to  heal  a  brother's  wo, 


MAN.  87 

And  o'er  a  brother's  weakness  drop  a  tear 
Instead  of  meeting  it  Avith  scoff  and  jeer — 
For  all  are  mortal,  and  all  flesh  is  prone 
To  wander  ;  but,  when  mighty  mind  shall  own 
Dominion,  and  shall  join  with  love  and  faith 
To  conquer  sin,  then,  then  the  victor's  wreath 
Shall  crown  mortality ;  and  man  below 
Foretaste  the  joys  celestial,  which  glow 
Where  disembodied  souls,  from  matter  free, 
Expand  and  brighten  thro'  eternity ! 
Where  the  glad  spirit,  on  its  new-born  winga 
Escaped  the  binding  cord  of  earthly  things, 
Looks  back  on  sin's  dark  night  as  sorrow  past, 
And  hails  the  Avelcome   light   that's  dawned   at 

last, 
When  naught  can  stay  its  upward  flight. 

The  soul— 

No  more,  by  weight  of  animal  control, 
Compelled  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  deeds 
Of  the  poor,  erring  body — far  exceeds 
In  splendor,  what  the  eye  or  heart  of  man 
Has  ever  dreamed  of — in  its  reaching  span 
To  grasp  the  good,  the  beautiful,  the  pure ; 
And  when  'tis  landed  on  the  crystal  shore 


88  PROGRESSION. 

Of  the  Eternal  River,  freed  from  sense 
And  all  its  penalties — expansive,  thence, 
It  brighter  glows  with  gems  of  thought  refined, 
And  stands,  th'  embodiment  of  glorious  mind; 
That  link,  which  God  designed  should  unite  man 
With  angels,  in  his  grand,  progressive  plan ! 
And  God's   great    laws,   unceasing,  slow,    and 

sure, 

Are  working  earth's  redemption  evermore ; 
Tho'  man,  in  his  blind  ignorance,  fails  to  see 
In  many  things,  the  hand  of  Deity 
That's  molding  up  the  plastic  clay  of  thought 
To  higher  points  of  interest,  and  fraught 
With  rich  revealings — Truth's  unfolding  light 
Intensifying,  as  its  radiance  bright 
Rolls  back  the  darkness  of  the  mental  night 
Shrouding  the  past.     Old  things  give  way  to  new, 
As  the  world  waxeth  to  the  full  and  true 
Perception  of  the  grand  and  beautiful, 
The  reasonable  and  the  dutiful ; 
And  manners,  customs,  habits,  feelings  change, 
As  greater  scope  is  given  the  mind  to  range 
In  nature's  storehouses,  there  to  explore 
Her  mysteries  and  read  her  ancient  lore, 


MAN.  89 

And  see  in  all  things  wisdom,  love,  and  power, 
Assigning  to  each  blade  of  grass,  each  flower, 
Or  stately  tree,  each  rain-drop,  spring,  or  flood, 
Its  portion  toward  the  universal  good  ; 
And  every  insect,  animal,  or  race, 
Its  fitting  attributes  and  proper  place, 
To  exist  while  needed,  then,  to  pass  away ; 
And  new  conditions,  with  the  old's  decay, 
Dawn  into  being. 

View  our  own  loved  land, 
By  nature  fashioned  in  appointments  grand. 
Once,  its  bold  rocks,  huge  forests,  mighty  lakes, 
High    towering    mountains,    and    deep     tangled 

brakes, 

Wide-spreading  prairies,  flowing  rivers,  free, 
All  a  vast  wilderness  was  known  to  be, 
Where  the  fierce  wolf  couched  in  his  rocky  lair 
And  roamed  the  panther,  and  wild  grizzly  bear  ; 
Or  Red  Man  tracked  the  elk  with  bended  bow, 
While  timid  deer  lurked  in  the  covert  low ; 
And  flashing  from  Niagara's  sheet  of  light 
The  "  council  fire,"  reflected  clear  and  bright ; 
Or  where  the  Mississippi  valley  spread 
In  wild  luxuriance,  the  measured  tread 


90  PROGRESSION. 

Of  painted  warriors  broke  the  deep  repose, 
.As  the  exultant  "death-song"  fierce,  uprose 
Fron  some  poor  victim  at  the  fiery  stake, 
Who  scorned  one  faint  entreaty  there  to  make; 
And  where  the  mighty  river  wanders  o'er 
His  clayey  bed — each  bluff  or  wood-crowned  shore 
Echoed    the    shrill   war-whoop,   both   fierce    and 

free ; 

Yet,  thro'  the  thick  foliage  of  each  tree, 
The  peaceful  calumet  sent  wreathy  smoke, 
And  songs  of  savage  joy  the  silence  broke* 
But  now,  the  Red  Man's  reign  is  o'er — his  day 
Has  run  its  limit — and  away,  away 
From  earth  he's  swept,  no  longer  needexl  there  ; 
But,  with  the  wolf,  the  panther,  and  the  bear, 
lie  flies  before  that  onward  march,  which  sows 
The  wilderness  with  myrtle  and  the  rose. 
He  leaves  that  lovely  land,  designed  to  be 
The  cradling-place  of  heaven-born  Liberty  ! 
Where  for  a  time  he  flourished ;  but  where  now 
The  leveling  ax,  the  saw,  the  spade,  the  plow, 
Have  spread  broad  fields,  and  towns  and   cities 

rise, 
With  gilded  spires  that  point  to  brighter  skies  ! 


MAN.  91 

This  noble  Western  World,  fair  Freedom's  car ! 
Had  higher  destiny,  more  glorious  far, 
Than  the  rude  savages'  broad  hunting-ground 
To  be,  thro'  circling  ages'  ceaseless  round. 
But  still,  when  haunt  of  creatures  fierce  and  wild, 
No  fitter  habitant  than  "  forest  child  " 
(Which  cognomen  's  the  Indian's  birthright,  clear), 
Could  be  by  Wisdom  placed  as  ruler  here. 
No  longer  wanted — see,  he  passes  on 
His  sunset  path,  where  myriad  Braves  have  gone ; 
And,  let  us  hope,  to  find  that  spirit-rest 
In  the  Hereafter's  regions  of  the  blest ! 

Here,  then,  is  seen  how  manifold  the  ways 
Of  Providence  !     We,  in  enlightened  days, 
Who  o'er  the  past  send  a  far-reaching  glance, 
Can  see  each  step  progressively  advance 
To  the  still  distant  but  still  nearing  goal 
Where  sense  will  yield  supremacy  to  soul ; 
Where  present  wrong  will  turn  to  future  right, 
And  day  succeed  the  gloomy,  darksome  night; 
Can  see  Truth's  glimmer,  faint  and  far,  't  is  true — 
But  o'er  the  dead  Old  World  't  will  burst  with  new 
And  higher  glory,  when  our  rising  star 
Shall  culminate,  and  spread  its  light  afar ; 


92  PROGRESSION. 

And  ancient  empires,  thrones,  and  kingdoms  quake, 
As  shouts   of  "  freedom "   from  this  broad   land 

break — 

Atlantic's  shores  echo  the  watchword  wide, 
And  broad  Pacific's  ever-flowing  tide 
Bears  the  hosanna  on  to  distant  lands, 
And  mighty  floods,  all-joyful,  clap  their  hand's, 
And  spread  glad  tidings  far  from  Pole  to  Pole, 
Where  wild  winds  blow  or  foaming  oceans  roll, 
Lighting  a  spark,  a  quenchless  spark,  to  rise, 
When  once  't  is  kindled,  flaming  to  the  skies  ! 
A  tiny  ball,  which,  gaining  as  it  goes, 
Falls  in  an  avalanche  like  mountain  snows, 
And  with  resistless  force  sweeps  all  aside, 
And  buries  wrong,  oppression,  pomp,  and  pride, 
Beneath  its  pure,  unsullied,  spotless  garb, 
Heaven's  matchless  ermine,  man's  protective  barb, 
The  banner  of  the  just,  the  good,  the  true, 
Which  yields  to  mind  and  soul  their  being's  due ! 

"  From  little  acorns  mighty  oaks  arise  ! " 
This  proverb  fleeting  time  still  verifies. 
The  seedling  of  a  giant  tree  was  sown, 
When  the  stanch  Pilgrims  freely  left  their  own 
Fair  land  to  tread  these  Western  wilds,  and  raise 


MAN.  93 

Unchecked    their   prayers    and    unrebuked    their 

praise ! 

Self-exiled  from  their  homes,  with  hearts  as  true 
As  finest-tempered  steel,  to  brave  (tho'  few 
Their  numbers)  all  the  savage  hosts,  before 
They  'd  yield  their  right  their  Maker  to  adore 
As  conscience  dictated.     The  germ,  thus  laid 
In  genial  soil,  now  spreads  a  grateful  shade 
From  wide-spread  foliage,  o'er  the  happy  land 
"Where  Freedom's  banner  floats  on  breezes  bland; 
Where  a  blest  nation  rears  its  honored  head 
From  conquered  Despotism's  ashes  red ; 
The  eagle,  Liberty,  on  heavenward  wings, 
Soars  on  triumphant,  or  exultant  sings, 
From    cloud-capped    eyrie,    anthems    grand   that 

swell 

To  pasans  glorious,  and  sound  the  knell 
Of  dark  Oppression — till  each  fettered  soil 
Looks  up  from  gyves  and  serfdom's  forced  toil, 
To  catch  the  refrain  rolling  o'er  the  sea, 
And  brave  hearts  echo,  "  FREE !  WE  WILL  BE 

FREE ! " 

Yes  !  Yes  !  ALL  will  be  free  in  time — in  time ; 
But  Liberty 's  a  plant  that  every  clime 


94  PROGRESSION. 

Must  raise  spontaneously,  ere  a  firm  hold 
Its  root  can  take  !     All  forcing,  we  are  told, 
Produces  sickly  growth;  and  Nature,  true 
To  all  her  instincts,  thus,  must  first  indue 
The  mind  with  proper  attributes,  and  give 
The  energies  for  freedom's  plant  to  live 
And  flourish ;  then  the  pruning-knife  may  be 
Applied,  to  lop  from  the  yet  budding  tree 
Its  useless  branches,  to  condense  its  strength, 
And  goodly  foliage  't  will  yield  at  length  ; 
Nourished  by  proper  soil,  its  growth  will  be 
Proportionate  to  any  native  tree, 
That  under  genial  airs  and  kindred  skies, 
Lifts  its  crowned  head  with  plumes  of  varied  dyes, 
And  to  the  passing  breeze  may  bend,  not  break — 
The  forest's  king,  which  tempests  fail  to  shake  ! 
With  heart  of  oak  and  brow  undimmed  by  age 
'T  will  stand,  the  youthful  hero  and  the  sage ; 
Firm  at  the  core,  but  pleasing  to  the  eye — 
The  grecn-bay-tree,  heaven-grafted,  Liberty ! 

The  mind  has  its  conditions:  soul  and  sense 
Must  work  harmonious,  ere  progressive  thence 
Springs  ripe  fruition.     Not  where  thistles  thrive 
Will  plenteous  crops  be  gathered !     Man,  alive 


MAN.  95 

Tho'  he  may  be  to  his  high  attributes, 
Which  place  him  far,  so  far  above  dumb  brutes, 
Must  feel  the  promptings  of  immortal  mind 
And  will  indomitable  ;  these,  combined, 
The  despot's  gilded  throne  can  overthrow ; 
For  mind  is  power  and  will  is  might,  below ! 
And  when  this  dual  force  is  brought  to  bear, 
The  strongest  fetters  burst — dissolve  in  air; 
Earth's  adamantine  monarchies  give  way, 
And  Freedom's  sun  pours  down  its  golden  ray, 
As  broad  it  shines  on  our  own  land  to-day  ! 

Blest  land!  the  honored  birthplace  and  the  grave 
Of  him  who  would  have  given  his  life  to  save 
Thy  sons  from  despotism's  iron  rule, 
But  scorned  to  be  a  tyrant's  slave  or  tool. 
0,  shout  exultant  to  thy  peaceful  skies 
His  name  !  and  as  the  sound  still  echoing  flies 
From  fame's  high  mount,  't  will  give — that  patriot 

cry— 

A  mold  for  gods  to  fashion  heroes  by ! 
For  where 's  the  land  can  boast  another  son, 
To  equal  thine,  thy  noble  Washington? 
0,  proudly  rear  thy  head,  "  Queen  of  the  West," 
And  own  thyself,  o'er  all,  supremely  blest ; 


96  PROGRESSION. 

And  keep  the  trust  his  lips  to  thee  have  given 
As  thou  wouldst  answer  it  before  High  Heaven. 
For  see,  a  cloud,  no  bigger  than  man's  hand, 
Is  creeping  o'er  thy  atmosphere  so  bland, 
To  spread  and  blacken  the  fair  soil  afar 
With  all  the  horrors  of  intestine  war, 
And  civil  feud ;  where  brother  brother  meets 
As  mortal  foe,  and  enmity  completes 
What  anarchy  began.     Pause,  brethren,  pause  ! 
Respect  each  other's  rights,  our  country's  laws, 
Ere  wickedly  attempting  to  undo 
The  floodgates  of  rank  discord,  and  imbrue 
With  native  blood  our  rising  empire's  sod — 
Once  spake  that  country's  savior  next  to  God ! 
And  what  this  threatened  wo,  this  tiny  cloud 
Whose    spreading    will    our    prospects    fair    en 
shroud  ? 

The  spirit  of  Dictation!  that  would  wrest 
Another's  right  of  thought  from  his  own  breast, 
And  sever  cords  of  unity  and  love 
Whose  links  were  twined   in    the   bright   realms 

above ; 

Whose  rights  were  purchased  by  our  fathers  brave 
Who  nobly  fought  and  bled  their  land  to  save, 


MAN.  97 

And  dying,  left  the  heritage  to  those 

As  brothers  joined,  but  now,  almost  as  foes 

Arrayed  with  hostile  feelings,  just  because 

They  differ  in  regard  to  freedom's  laws ; 

And  hot,  vituperative,  random  speech 

Is  rolling  ever  to  increase  the*  breach, 

Till  discord  riots  o'er  the  tottering  land. 

And,  as  a  house  divided  can  not  stand — 

So,  with  these  discords,  the  broad  Union  shakes ; 

The  arching  firmament  with  terror  quakes, 

Lest  from  our  banner's  spangled  azure  fold 

Its  sister  stars  should  leave  their  glorious  hold, 

And  'mid  the  ruin  of  their  universe 

Die  out  in  darkness !     Heaven  forbid,  this  curse 

Should  ever  blot  our  fair  escutcheon! 

List! 

Ye  sowers  of  dissension,  nor  insist 
That   you  've  the  right  to  point  your  brethren's 

course, 

Which,  should  they  follow,  still  would  lead  to  worse 
Conditions  than  exist — list  to  the  voice 
Of  reason !  and  not  rashly  make  the  choice 
That  severs  all  our  bonds  of  brotherhood; 
Clipped  by  rank  Faction's  discontented  brood 

L_L  — 


98  PROGRESSION. 

Of  meddlers,  cloaked  in  piety's  broad  garb, 
To  hide  the  point  of  foul  dissension's  barb, 
And  under  pretense  of  philanthropy- 
Plant  hatred,  violence,  and  anarchy 
In  kindred  soil.     Ah  !  't  is  no  feeling  pure, 
(An  empty  boast ),l>ut  simply  to  insure 
A  rigid  to  dictate  to  the  rest,  and  show 
The  North  will  teach  the  South  the  way  to  go! 
'T  is  not  true  horror  of  "  vile  slavery  " 
Calls  forth  this  bombast  of  great  bravery, 
Or  sympathy  for  the  poor  Negro  lends 
A  strength  to  wield  the  battle-ax,  and  tends 
To  lessen  the  deep  horror  of  these  broils, 
These  family  dissensions  and  turmoils ! 
0  brothers,  ALL,  both  North  and  South,  I  pray 
Give  ear  to  me,  and  hearken  to  my  lay, 
The  while  I  prove  to  thee,  the  hand  of  God 
Holds  over  Africa  the  divining  rod, 
To  lift  from  barbarism's  horrid  hold 
Her  sunk  humanity,  whose  hidden  gold 
Were  worthless  else,  with  savage  dross  o  'ergrown, 
Which  to  subdue,  no  better  means  are  known 
Than  those  of  a  judicious  slavery. 
Not  the  foul  bondage  coined  by  knavery 


MAN.  99 

And  represented  to  exist  where  rolls 

The  white-capped  waves  of  bursting  cotton  bolls, 

And  fields  of  sugar-cane,  luxuriant  spread 

Beneath  a  fiery  sun's  fierce,  burning  tread; 

But  such  a  thralldom  as  superior  powers 

May  lay  on  weaker,  in  this  world  of  ours, 

When  soul  and  sense  unite  to  point  the  way 

To  better  things,  to  humanize  the  clay 

Of  savagism  !     And  this,  God  permits 

To  be,  while  needed,  as  a  means  that  fits 

The  Neoro  to  receive  his  Word,  and  kiss 

O  * 

The  chastening  rod  that  points  to  future  bliss  ! 

We  must  deny  the  Bible's  holy  word 
To  say  that  slavery  came  not  from  God! 
On  its  blest  pages  read  we  duty  there 
To  slave  and  master  both  assigned.     And  where 
The  palmy  days  of  Israel  rose,  't  is  shown 
That  slavery  existed ;  and  't  is  known 
The  Christian  Dispensation  recognized 
Its  justice,  now  so  basely  scandalized. 
And  tho'  the  dawnings  of  a  brighter  day 
May  glimmer  from  the  distant  future,  say, 
Is  the  Negro  yet  endowed  aright 
To  govern  self?     And  what  (we  ask  in  quite 


100  PROGRESSION. 

A  humble  spirit),  what  is  to  become 
Of  him,  if  from  his  comfortable  home 
Emancipated,  he  is  forced  to  flee? 
Left  to  himself,  a  savage  he  will  be  ! 
This  has  been  tried — in  St.  Domingo  now 
View  his  barbarity ;  or  else,  he  '11  bow 
To  some  superior  savage  race,  and  be 
By  greater  force  destroyed. 

Ah !  happier,  he 

"Well  fed,  well  clothed,  well  cared  for  in  that  land 
Which  fanatic  reformers  deeply  brand 
(Those  transcendental  bigots,  who  can't  see 
The  never-failing  ways  of  Deity, 
Nor  hear  the  voice  that  in  the  wilderness 
Calls  night  and  day  the  means  of  all  redress, 
And  in  the  groaned- o'er,  falsely-pictured  fate 
Of  Africa,  makes  clear  the  path,  and  straight, 
For  Him  to  enter — the  Almighty  One  ! ) 
They  've  yet  to  learn,  the  work  that  is  begun 
By  Providence,  is  never  left  undone ; 
For  God's  will  works  in  a  mysterious  way, 
Which  men  unconscious  to  themselves,  obey, 
And  coming  light  will  part  all  dark'ning  screens, 
And  prove  the  end  to  justify  the  means ; 


MAN.  101 

And  when  the  proper  time  has  come,  we  '11  see 
( What  is  not  now  the  case )  the  Black  will  be 
Fitted,  as  is  the  White  man,  to  be  free ! 

We  '11  take  a  backward  glance,  and  try  to  trace 
The  rise  of  Slavery  in  the  human  race, 
At  least,  as  far  as  mortal  records  show — 
Arid  see  what  horror,  agony,  and  wo, 
At  one  time  stamped  it  with  ail  iron  heel ; 
Then,  view  it  noiv,  and  every  heart  will  feel 
The  present  age  is  surely  leading  on 
To  strike  the  hidden  path,  where  lies  the  stone 
So  vainly  sought  by  alchemists  of  old, 
To  turn  all  baser  metab  to  pure  gold — 
Designed  the  crowning  glory  yet  to  be 
Of  man,  the  godlike  -scepter  with  which  he 
Will  right  all  wrongs,  all  grievances  redress, 
Succor  all  weakness,  soothe  all  dire  distress, 
And  plant  the  banner  of  the  just  and  true 
To  guard  a  world!  to  conquer  and  subdue 
All  barbarisms,  despotisms,  bold  ; 
And  turn  these  base  alloys  to  finest  gold ! 
Gold    in    the    furnace    tried  —  like    that   which 

gleams 
From  Free  America  in  radiant  beams, 


102  PROGRESSION. 

To  light  the  Old  World's  feeble  steps  along 
The  path  her  brave  young  son  has  nobly  gone, 
And  in  the  footsteps  of  yon  orb  of  fire 
From  East  to  West,  has  mounted  higher,  higher 
Till  in  the  zenith  a  broad  noonday  flame 
Lights  all  the  glorious  road  by  which  he  came, 
And  writes  in  golden  characters  his  fame ! 


THE  Book  of  books  we  confidently  quote 
In  reference  to  the  past,  doth  plainly  note 
The  fact,  that  slavery  existed  Avhen 
Good  Noah  (he  who  found  above  all  men, 
Grace  in  the  eyes  of  God)  dwelt  in  the  land 
Deluged,  'tis  said,  by  the  Divine  command; 
For  in  the  malediction  breathed  upon 
His  younger  and  his  most  irreverent  son, 
These  words  he  used  :  "  Accursed  shall  Canaan  be, 
A  servant's  servant  ever  shall  be  he 
Unto  his  brethren," — and  by  this,  't  is  shown, 
That  servitude  'mong  men  is  fairly  known 
To  have  existed  ere  the  floods  of  heaven 
Poured  forth,  we're  told,  upon  an  unforgiven, 
Corrupt,  and  wicked  generation  ;  for, 
'Twas  shortly  after  that  fierce  watery  war 
Was  said  to  have  been  waged,  that  Ham  provoked 
His  parent's  ire,  who  vengeance  dire  invoked 

(103) 


104  PROGRESSION. 

On  him  and  all  his  progeny — and  hence 
We  've  grounds  for  the  belief,  that  Slavery  thence 
Has  progressed  'mong  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
And  claims  this  far-removed  and  ancient  birth. 

Nimrod's  the  first  that  dealt  in  slaves,  that  we 
Can  trace  such  dealings  to.     We'  re  told,  that  he 
Became  a  mighty  one  upon  the  earth — 
"  A  mighty  hunter   before   the    Lord !"      Now, 

worth 

Is  given  by  commentators,  to  this  clause, 
Proportionate  to  all  translations'  flaws — 
They  give  the  literal  meaning  thus :  "  Of  men 
A  mighty  hunter  he  became ;"  for  then, 
By  Scripture  it  appears,  his  conquests  were 
Immense,  the  territories  of  Ashur 
Invaded  were  by  him — he  seized  upon 
That  far-famed  city,  Ancient  Babylon, 
And  made  it  what  it  was,  the  capital 
Of  the  first  kingdom  in  the  world !     And  shall 
We  err  in  saying,  that  the  captives  ta'en 
In  war  by  him,  were  forced  to  remain 
Bond-servants  to  the  conqueror  ! 

And  'tis  seen 
'Twas  so — for  seventy  years  scarce  rolled  between 


SLAVERY.  105 

The  death  of  Nimrod  and  good  Abraham's  birth, 
Yet  in  that  Patriarch's  age  there  was  no  dearth 
Of  servitude — in  his  own  house  were  born 
Three  hundred  and  eighteen  slaves ;  and  on  that 

morn 

When  Siddam's  vale  rang  with  the  din  of  war, 
And  battle's  issues,  on  the  "  Four  Kings' "  car 
Of  triumph,  captive  placed  his  brother's  son — 
lie  armed  his  "  trained  servants,"  every  one, 
Pursued  the  conquerors  unto  Dan — by  night 
Smote  them,  and  still  pursued  to  Hobah  quite, 
Nor  ceased  till  he'd  recaptured  all  the  spoil 
(He  and  his  servants)  of  the  bloody  toil, 
And    brought   back   women,    goods,   and  people, 

too, 

To  Sodom's  king — who  generously,  in  view 
To  reward  him,  said  :  "  The  persons  give  to  me, 
And  take  the  goods  to  thyself."     By  this,  we  see 
That  each  one  thought  the  conqueror  had  a  right 
To  hold  as  slaves  all  captives  ta'  en  in  fight. 
And  many  other  scriptural  texts  will  show 
How  valued  then  all  bondsmen  were ;  for  so, 
The  sacred  writer  Abraham's  wealth  describes— 
He  says,  that  he  had  of  men-servants,  tribes, 


106  PROGRESSION. 

And  sheep  and  oxen,  and  he-asses,  and 
Maid-servants,  and  she-asses,  to  command ; 
And  camels.     Such  was  also  Jacob's  dower, 
And  Isaac's  estimated  wealth  and  power. 

That  Slavery  was  authorized  by  law 
Among  the  Israelites,  we  find  no  flaw 
In  Holy  Writ  to  contradict;  we  see 
There,  also,  how  all  servants  were  to  be 
Treated.     First:  They  were  to  be  bought  alone 
Of  heathen — for,  if  a  poor  Jew  was  known 
To  sell  himself  either  for  food,  or  debt, 
The  limits  of  his  servitude  were  set 
To  expire  upon  the  year  of  Jubilee, 
If  after  six  years'  bondage  he  would  be 
Considered  still  a  servant — then,  to  show 
That  from  this  service  he  declined  to  go, 
The  master,  with  an  awl,  bored  fast  his  ear 
To  the  door-post,  to  show  that  he  would  here 
Remain  a  slave  till  jubilee's  blest  year. 
But  slaves  for  life,  those  bought  and  sold  again, 
Or  which  as  fixed  inheritance  remain 
In  families  forever,  were  of  those 
Taken  in  war,  the  heathen,  strangers,  foes. 
Says  Moses  :  "  Both  thy  bondmen  and  bondmaids 


SLAVERY.  107 

Shall    be    of    the    heathen."      And    he    further 

adds  : 

"  And  ye  shall  take  them  as  inheritance 
For   your    children    after    you."      And    if    (as 

chance 

Might  be),  a  master  beat  a  slave  to  death, 
He  was  not  doomed  by  the  unswerving  breath 
Of  justice  stern,  to  pay  the  penalty 
Such  crime  exacts  from  high  and  low  degree 
In  human  courts  to-day — but  simply  was 
Punished  proportionate  unto  the  cause, 
As  this  was  deemed  sufficient.      Such  was  then 
The  power  that  man  held  o'er  his  fellows,  men. 

Ah!  happy  we  to  have  outlived  the  time, 
And  reached  the  borders  of  a  milder  clime, 
Where  mercy  and  compassion's  wreaths  entwine, 
And  justice  and  humanity  combine 
To  lighten  fetters  forged  by  direst  need, 
Pour  balm  on  wounds  destined  so  long  to  bleed, 
Till  bondage  by  sweet  sympathy  made  light, 
Sees  not  its  shackles,  unless  thrust  in  sight 
By    self-styled    friends !     who    rattle    loud    the 

chains, 
And  the  poor  victim  writhes  'neath  fancied  pains ; 


108  PROGRESSION. 

The  while  these  wolves  clothed  in  their  sheepskin 

garbs, 
Sink  deep  their  fangs,  their  sharp  and  poisoned 

barbs, 

Which  with  their  victim's  life-blood  mingles,  and 
The  tares  of  discontent  on  every  hand 
Spring  up,  and  choke  the  better  fruit  whose  bloom 
Was  lighting  the  dark  passage  to  the  tomb, 
Till  these  rank  weeds  o'erspread  the  kindly  soil 
And  crushed  the  produce  of  a  better  toil ; 
Planting  a  bitter  enmity  'twixt  those — 
Master  and  slave — who  never  should  he  foes ; 
Tightening  the  latter's  bonds  and  locking  up 
The  former's  sympathies.     And  this,  the  cup 
Of  bitterness,  these  meddlers  mix  for  those 
Poor  idiots,  who  know  not  friends  from  foes  ! 

Ah  well !  there  is  a  proverb  old,  doth  say 
That  mighty  "  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day." 
And  let  us  hope  these  bigots  yet  will  see 
How  false  the  path  they've  chosen.     If  to  free 
The  Negro  is  their  only  end  and  aim — 
And  such  the  generous  purpose  they  would  claim — 
We  '11  trust  to  time's  all-powerful,  potent  test, 
To  prove  their  error,  leaving  God  the  rest ! 


SLAVERY.  109 

His  laws  unceasing  will  work  out  their  end, 
However  men  may  strive  or  fools  contend ; 
And  when  they  cry,  "  A  lion's  at  the  door," 
Before  we  fly  we  '11  wait  to  hear  him  roar, 
Nor  conjure  beast  with  longer  ears  to  be 
The  king  at  whose  loud  voice  all  creatures  flee ; 
And  go  unflinching  on  our  path,  with  faith 
That  sober  second  thought  will  lay  the  wraith 
Of  troubled  Abolitionism  low — 
That  wandering  spirit  with  perturbed  brow ! 
Now  turn  we  to  that  land  by  classic  song 
And  Homer's  verse,  immortal  made  among 
The  lands  of  earth  !     "VVe  find,  that  Slavery  there, 
Despite  its  orators  and  heroes  fair, 
Existed,  and  atrocities  most  foul 
Were  perpetrated;  while  the  victim's  howl 
Of  anguish,  music  was  most  sweet  to  hear, 
To  the  ferocious  conqueror's  bestial  ear. 
Such  were  the  habits  of  the  Greeks  of  old. 
And  even  in  Alexander's  time,  we're  told, 
That  when  he  had  rased  Thebes,  he  seized  and 

sold 

Men,  women,  children,  all  for  slaves.     But  still, 
The  Spartans  were  most  cruel — for  with  skill 


110  PROGRESSION. 

They  trained  the  Lacedemonian  youth 

To  practice  all  achievements  void  of  truth, 

Purposely  to  deceive  and  butcher  those 

Poor  captives  seized  as  slaves  from  out  their  foes. 

And  this  was  but  to  show  their  progress  in 

The  stratagems  of  massacre,  and  win 

A  base  applause  for  deeds  of  wantonness 

'Gainst  those  who  had  no  means  of  just  redress. 

Even  Rome,  imperial  city  of  the  East! 
Could  boast  but  little  over  these — at  least 
Till  Christianity's  mild  cays  shed  holier  light 
To  turn  brute  force  and  question  wrong  and  right. 
Eor  the  blood-stained  arena's  gory  flow, 
The  dark,  inhuman,  gladiatorial  show ; 
The  stiffened  corpse  dragged  thro'  the  circus'  round 
(First  scourged  to  death  the  slave  was,  and  then 

bound 

In  his  hand  a  fork  in  gibbet  form) ;  the  dread 
And  brutal  Vedius  Pollio's  conduct;  still  must  shed 
A  nameless  horror  o'er  those  barbarous  times, 
And  cause  us  bless  the  ring  of  happier  chimes. 

In  Sicily,  during  the  commonwealth, 
Masters,   to    keep   their    slaves   from    march   of 
stealth, 


SLAVERY.  Ill 

Branded  their  foreheads  with  an  iron  hot ; 
And  one  slaveholder  (Damophilus),  not 
Content  with  this  security,  shut  fast 
His  slaves  at  night  in  prisons  close,  then  pass'd 
Them  out  like  beasts  to  daily  work  at  morn. 
Thank  Heaven,  we  now  can  hail  a  brighter  dawn, 
Tho'  fleecy  clouds  may  hang  upon  its  brow, 
Their  silver  edges  tell  how  bright  the  glow 
Behind  them — a  radiance  which  shall  pierce 
The  farthest  limits  of  the  universe, 
When  rolling  time  shall  reach  the  point  at  last 
Where  misty  doubts,  into  Faith's  ocean  cast, 
Resolve  themselves  to  pearls  of  truth  and  love, 
To  glearn  and  scintillate  in  courts  above! 

A  milder  form  of  Slavery  prevailed 
Among  the  ancient  Germans.     This  assailed 
Not  wantonly  its  subjects,  nor  imposed 
Undue  exactions ;  slaves  were  not  exposed 
To  cruel  treatment.     Attached  to  the  soil, 
And  working  and  improving  it  their  toil, 
With  tending  cattle,  they  could  neither  be 
Made  articles  of  commerce  nor  yet  free. 
The  only  ones  that  could  be  bought  and  sold, 
Were  freemen  who  had  lost  themselves  for  gold; 


112  PROGRESSION. 

For  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see 

An  ardent  gamester  stake  his  liberty 

Upon  a  dice's  turn ;  the  victor  then 

Could  sell  his  property  to  other  men. 

But  the  condition  of  the  slave  still  seems 

To  have  been  much  better  than  the  savage  gleams 

Thrown  from  the  annals  of  the  polished  Greeks 

And  Romans. 

Then,  by  one  of  those  strange  freaks 
Of  retrogression,  which  sometimes  exist 
'Mong  nations  on  this  "  island  in  the  mist ;" 
The  Anglo-Saxons  seem  not  to  have  been 
So  honorable  in  this  traffic  as  we  've  seen 
Were  their  Teutonic  forefathers.     As  when 
Alfred  (he,  surnamed  "the  Great")  pass'd  'rnong 

men 

A  law  forbidding  purchase  of  a  man, 
A  horse,  an  ox,  without  a  voucher:  can 
We  doubt,  the  statute  was  but  to  prevent 
The  stealing  of  such  property  ?     This  bent 
Must  have  prevailed  to  have  called  forth  the  law. 
And,  to  apply  an  almost  worn-out  "  saw :" 
"'Tis  a  poor  rule  that  will  not  work  both  ways," 
Men  must  have  been  property  in  those  days, 


SLAVERY.  113 

Otherwise,  why  steal  them  ? 

A  species  too 

Of  slavery,  alike  to  that  which  thro' 
The  German  States  held  sway,  existed  in 
The  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  till  within 
The  last  three  centuries.     And  this  is  seen 
From  a  commission  issued  by  the  Queen, 
The  famous  Queen  Elizabeth  of  yore, 
In  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-four, 
Inquiring  'bout  the  lands  and  goods  of  all 
Her  bondmen  and  bondivomen  in  Cornwall, 
Devon,  Somerset,  and  Gloucester, 
In  order  that  they  might  compound  with  her 
For  manumission,  and  enjoy  their  lands 
And  goods  as  freemen.     So,  the  matter  stands 
Till  now.     A  work  of  later  years  has  been 
To  free  the  Colliers,  Salters — who  were  seen 
To  have  endured  a  wretched  serfdom,  worse 
Than  negro-slavery's  much  quoted  curse. 
Doomed   in   dark   mines,   to    wear   life's  threads 

away, 

Robbed  of  God's  precious  gift,  the  light  of  day  ! 
And  even  their  wretched  children  born  to  share 
The  curse,  which  shut  them  from  sunshine  and  air, 
10 


114  PROGRESSION. 

Till  little  better  than  the  grub,  they  crept 
Thro'  their  dark  holes  in  mother  earth,  or  slept 
A  sort  of  waking  sleep — for  intellect, 
Crushed  by  the  nightmare,  darkness,  can't  reflect 
The  hues  prismatic  which  life-giving  light 
Calls  forth  victorious  o'er  the  brooding  night, 
And  in  an  apathetic  torpor  run 
Their  race,  destined  to  end  where  it  begun ! 
So  far,  so  good ;  and  England  acted  well 
In  freeing  those  poor  wretches  doomed  to  dwell 
In  earth's  dark  bowels — for,  of  the  same  race 
These  sons  of  toil  held  with  her  equal  place 
In  human  grade — but  stepped  she  not  too  far 
In  leaving  her  West  India  door  ajar, 
And  vesting  savages  with  powers  and  rights, 
To  equal  sway  with  more  enlightened  Whites  ? 
And  what 's  the  result,  this  vaunted  labor  free 
Has  brought  to  her?     Where  once  there  used  to 

be 

Most  ample  stores  of  tropical  produce, 
The  soil,  from  dire  neglect  and  rank  misuse, 
Scarce   yields   supplies  for  home  consumption — 

•while 
Fair  Cuba's  sugar-fields  prolific  smile; 


SLAVERY.  115 

Her  green  tobacco  waves  in  fragrance  swc^t, 
And  fills  the  holds  of  many  a  noble  fleet. 
And  why?     Because  right  management  an  1  toil 
Bring  out  the  richness  of  the  generous  so!! — 
The  White  man's  intellect,  the  Negro's  strc-ii^th, 
Are  brought  to  bear,  and  harvest  comes  at  length. 

But,  as  the  Negro  will  not  work  unless 
Compelled,  why  lay  such  monstrous,  direful  vstress 
Upon  his  slavery,  which  brings  to  him    . 
Comforts  he  'd  never  have  the  will  to  win 
If  left  to  himself?     This,  England  knows  full  well, 
And  free  Jamaica's  sterile  fields  now  tell, 
The  world  would  suffer  for  supplies  of  those 
Commodities,  on  which  it  vainly  throws 
The  obloquy  of  "  slavery's  products; "  while 
The  wani  of  them  would  hardly  cause  a  smile, 
If  on  "  free  labor  "  we  'd  depend,  to  give 
These  necessaries  by  which  millions  live. 
For  White  men  can  not  stand  a  tropic  sun, 
And  Blacks,  by  nature  fitted  for  it,  won 
Can  never  be  by  hire  to  do  more  work 
Than  will  keep  off  starvation  ;  they  will  shirk 
(To  use  a  Yankee  phrase)  all  that  they  can, 
Are  naturally  lazy  to  a  man. 


116  PROGRESSION. 

Why  is  it  sinful,  then,  to  take  them  from 
The  barbarous  wilds  of  Afric,  where  they  roam 
But  little  else  than  brutes — and  give  them  homes, 
And  turn  to  men  these  dark  ungainly  gnomes  ? 
Will  any  other  means  ere  civilize 
These  savages,  beneath  our  Christian  skies  ? 
Or,  setting  that  aside — must  these  fair  lands 
Remain  as  deserts  'neath  our  helpless  hands, 
When  means  are  known  on  earth,  if  well  employed, 
To  cause  them  yield  what  we've  so  long  enjoyed? 
Nor  only  us — the  workers  have  their  share ; 
Well  fed,  well  clad,   and  taught  both  praise  and 

prayer — 

Saved  from  the  darker  horrors  that  await 
Less  fortunate  companions  in  a  state 
Of  barbarism  still  in  their  own  land, 
Stamped  as  it's  always  been  with  savage  brand, 
And  made  their  being's  aim  to  understand. 
That  Africa  at  any  time  was  free 
From  the  most  horrid  forms  of  slavery, 
All  history  forbids  us  to  suppose. 
There,  tribe  'gainst  tribe,  arrayed  as  mortal  foes, 
Enslave  each  other.     'Mong  the  ancient  race 
As  far  back  as  we  've  records  left  to  trace, 


SLAVERY.  117 

Even  to  the  era  of  the  Trojan  war, 

We  find  Phoenicia  trading  with  Lybia  for 

Her  slaves  ;  and  Carthage,  which  was  known  to  be 

No  more  than  a  Phoenician  colony, 

Following  the  customs  of  its  parent  state, 

Still  carried  on  the  traffic  with  the  great 

Interior  tribes  of  that  wild,  desert  land, 

Where  burning  sunbeams  flow  o'er  parched  sand, 

And  the  tall  palm-tree  with  its  high  plumed  head, 

Scarce  deigns  a  strip  of  grateful  shade  to  shed; 

But  miles  of  sterile,  unproductive  land 

Stretch  far  and  wide  around  on  every  hand, 

With  only  here  and  there  a  little  dot 

Of  verdure,  a  grass-grown  and  welcome  spot 

That  marks  a  water-course ;  and  which  the  cry 

Of  thirsty  camel  tells,  ere  man  can  spy, 

That  't  is  the  blest  oasis  which  they  near 

To  yield  their  worn-out  strength  its  grateful  cheer. 

And  still  in  modern  times  her  sons  are  seen 
Subjected  unto  bondage.      They  had  been 
Made  slaves  of  by  the  nations  of  the  earth 
At  a  much  earlier  period  than  the  birth 
Of  European  slavery  of  the  race. 
'Tis  proved  beyond  a  doubt,  that  we  can  trace 


118  PROGRESSION. 

A  trade  in  slaves  to  have  been  carried  on 

By  Arabs  wild,  previous  to  this,  upon 

The  coast  of  Guinea — e'en  some  hundred  years 

Before  the  incursive  Portuguese  appears 

Upon  the  western  coast,  or  e'er  had  seen 

A  woolly-headed  Negro.     'Twas  between 

The  war  of  the  Crusaders  in  the  year 

Eleven  hundred  (when  it  doth  appear 

That  Europeans  first  obtained  a  sight 

Of  Africans,  which  caused  their  army  quite 

A  burst  of  merriment),  and  that  fierce  time — 

Some  cycles  back  in  rolling  centuries'  chime — 

When  Nubia's  king,  sore  harassed  by  the  host 

Of  bold  Egyptian  Arabs,  who  did  boast 

Mohammed  as  their  God,  agreed  to  send 

By  way  of  tribute — and  also,  to  tend 

Toward  lessening  these  annoyances — a  vast 

Number  of  Nubian  slaves  to  Egypt.     Fast 

To  this  covenant  held,  each  year  was  he 

Then  forced  to  drain  on  neighboring  bands ;  we 

see, 
He    bought    the    Blacks    of   Guinea,    whom    he 

paid 
In  tribute  to  the  Calif— thus  the  trade 


SLAVERY.  119 

May  have  been  said  to  have  commenced  abroad, 
Tho'  long  prevailing  'niong  each  native  horde 
In  the  interior. 

That  this  was  so, 

To  prove,  we  need  no  farther  backward  go 
Than  the  last  century.     The  Dahomans, 
One  of  the  wild  interior's  warlike  clans, 
Had  never  seen  a  White  man  till  the  year 
Seventeen  hundred  and  twenty-seven  ;  and  here, 
Their  prince  and  army  met  some  travelers 
In  Sabi,  and  were  so  shocked,  it  appears, 
At  their  complexion  and  their  dress,  they  were 
Afraid  to  approach  them,  and  were  heard  demur 
'As  to  their  being  men  until  they  spoke  ; 
Then  satisfied  that  it  was  not  a  joke, 
They  yet  were  much  astonished  when  informed 
That  these  were  buyers  of  the  slaves  that  swarmed 
For  purchasers  upon  the  Guinea  coast. 
Yet  these  Dahomans,  most  inhuman,  boast 
Such  horrid  cruelties  to  such  poor  slaves 
As  chance  they  hold,  that  a  wretch  freely  braves 
The  unknown  good  that  may  in  foreign  chains 
Be  found,  to  native  bondage  with  its  stains 
Of  cannibalism,  its  most  monstrous  rites, 


120  PROGRESSION. 

Unholy  usages  and  shocking  sights  ! 

Such  is,  we  find,  the  present  state  of  things 

In  Africa ;  and  this  conviction  brings 

Us  to  the  inquiry :  Where  will  we  see 

In  the  world's  annals,  a  community 

Composed  of  Negroes,  that  have  ever  been 

So  well  off  as  our  slaves  ?     Better  ('t  is  seen 

By  the  distress  and  want  that  wide  prevailed 

In  late  disastrous  times,  and  fierce  assailed 

The  working  classes  of  the  North)  by  far, 

Is  their  condition,  than  nine-tenths  that  are 

Compelled  to  earn  their  all  by  labor  free ; 

For,  let  a  "panic"  stop  the  wheels,  and  see, 

The  poor  man  is  the  sufferer ;  no  right 

Has  he  to  "  daily  bread,"  unless  his  mite 

Of  work  is  added  to  the  general  stock. 

And,  as  "retrenchment"  bids  the  master  lock 

His  coffers,  and  reduce  his  working  hands, 

Minus  employment,  the  poor  laborer  stands 

But  little  chance  of  shutting  his  slight  door 

On    wolf-like    hunger's    fierce     and     maddening 

roar. 

Not  so  our  well-fed  Negroes.    Housed  and  warm, 
They,  unconcerned,  abide  the  wildest  storm 


SLAVERY.  121 

That  shakes  the  base  of  the  commercial  world, 
Nor  heed  the  rudest  tempest  ever  hurled 
From  speculation's  giddy  hights.      For  them 
Decline  of  stocks  no  terror  has ;  they  stem 
The  tide  of  life,  sure  of  a  hand  to  save 
From  every  'whelming  billow  and  each  wave 
Of  want  that  o'er  the  working  White  man  rolls. 
Their  bodily  requirements  met — their  souls, 
Exhumed  from  the  foul  rubbish  and  neglect 
Of  savage  ignorance,  can  full  reflect 
The  beams  of  Christianity's  bright  sun ; 
Showing  how  well  the  work  that  was  begun 
Long  years  ago  for  their  advancement,  is 
Progressing  to  its  end  of  future  bliss  ! 

'  0  Shame !  where  is  thy  blush,"  that  in  such 

cause 

Wild  fanatics  should,  'spite  their  country's  laws, 
And  in  the  face  of  verdict  just,  see  flaws 
To  cavil  at  ?     Such  men  would,  doubtless,  see 
Motes  in  the  eyes  of  Truth  ?     A  class,  a  flea 
Would  choke,  but  who,  without  grimace  or  gag, 
Can  swallow  camels  whole!     For  loud  they  brag 
Of  tireless  efforts  in  behalf  of  those 
Who  're  well  protected  from  privation's  woes, 
11 


122  PROGRESSION. 

While  brothers  round  them   starve  for  want  of 

work, 

And  sisters,  under  master  fierce  as  Turk, 
Stitch,  for  a  pittance,  their  life-threads  away , 
Yet  mourn   they  for  the  slave,  more  blest  than 

they, 

Who,  free  from  care,  with  childlike  confidence 
Looks  for  protection,  comfort  (competence, 
Compared  to  those  poor  creatures'  ill  supplies), 
To  him  who  seldom  want  or  wish  denies. 
For  the  "  good  servant "  knows  his  lord  will  yield 
Increase  to  him  whose  talent  in  the  field 
Lies  buried  not — the  laborer  will  find 
He  's  worthy  of  his  hire  ;  and  master  kind 
Supplies  the  mental  force  that  can  direct 
The  Negro's  muscle.     Thus,  our  land  is  decked 
With  the  rich  crops  by  which  we  want  defy, 
And  White  and  Black  have  plentiful  supply. 

And  yet  this  happy  state  of  things  must  be 
Made  a  vain  pretext  for  rank  anarchy, 
Seditious  speech,  and  wordy  war,  by  those 
Whose  pretense  friendship  is,  but  who  are  foes 
Of  direst,  deadliest  import  to  our  land 
Blest  in  its  own  mild  government  to  stand ; 


SLAVERY.  123 

Which,  with  unholy  zeal,  they  seek  to  change, 
And  all  our  articles  of  faith  derange ; 
Assuming  to  themselves  a  paramount 
Ability  to  dictate,  o'er  the  Fount 
Whence  all  our  blessings  are  derived — and  raise 
A  new  law-code,  a  better  form  of  praise 
Than  our  forefathers  gave,  who  left  the  soil 
And  Constitution  without  stain,  when  toil 
For  freedom  ended.     Wisely  they  assigned 
Each  one  his  place,  nor  thought,  when  they  con 
signed 

The  Negro  to  the  ranks  of  servitude 
(The  fit  condition  for  his  nature  rude), 
The  policy  would  ere  be  questioned.     But 
Our  country's  "faster"   grown   since  then,  and 

soot 

0  'er  ivory  soars  in  bigots'  brains,  who  see 
Not  what  a  trial  vaunted  liberty 
Becomes  to  Sambo,  when  he  's  forced  to  earn 
By  his  own  wits,  his  livelihood,  and  learn 
To  think  for  himself.     [A  phrase  unknown 
In  his  vocabulary.]     They  disown 
All  fair  approaches  to  the  truth,  and  seek 
To  cover  purpose  foul  with  aspect  meek ; 


124  PROGRESSION. 

And  if  permitted,  ne'er  will  cease,  till  all 
This  lovely  land  lies  covered  with  a  pall 
Of  darkness — and  our  glowing  sun  goes  down 
Behind  a  severed  nation's  gloomy  frown ! 

0 !  where  the  wisdom  now  to  guide  aright 
The  sinking  ship  of  state,  ere  the  dark  night 
That's  hovering  on  the  horizon's  verge,  sets  in! 
No  second  Washington,  we  fear,  will  win 
A  nation's  grateful  plaudits  by  a  firm, 
Consistent  course  of  action;  while  the  worm 
That's  sapping  at  our  peace,  works  ceaseless  on. 
0  !  mighty  Truth,  arise !  shed  rays  upon 
Our  glorious  Constitution's  outraged  brow, 
Nor  let  our  native  eagle's  proud  head  bow, 
His  quivering  wings  fall  listless  by  his  sides, 
That  from  Atlantic's  to  Pacific's  tides 
Spread    their    broad    pinions  —  when,    his    eyry 

rent 

From  Alleghany's  cloud-capped  battlement 
He  looks  abroad  to  seek  another  hight ; 
And  on  the  one  side  stretches  to  his  sight 
New   England's  snow-crowned   mounts  and  busy 

vales, 
Her  peopled  cities  and  her  homestead  dales — 


SLAVERY.  125 

The  cold,  proud  "  North,"  hemmed  in  on  every 

hand 

By  colleges  and  churches  at  command, 
And  all  her  hardy  sons  toiling  untired 
(As  never  slaveling  toiled  by  fear  inspired) 
To  heap  bright  ingots,  or  to  strike  a  trade ; 
To  drive  a  bargain,  or  mayhap  a  spade; 
To  dig  an  idea  or  potato  patch — 
No  matter  which,  so  gold  they  thereby  hatch ; 
Or  using  powers  which  might  be  better  spent, 
In  sowing  broad-cast,  se^ds  of  discontent, 
And  loud  declaiming  'gainst  their  sister,  "  South," 
Because  she  will  not  take  from  her  own  mouth. 
The  food  on  which  she  lives,  and  trust  to  Heaven 
To  shower  down  manna  for  her  sins  forgiven  ! 
The  while  they  see  not  what  poor  slaves  they  are 
Themselves,  chained  in  the  van  of  Mammon's  car, 
To  creeds  and  stereotyped  ideas  of  right, 
In  spite  of  Truth's  broad,  plain,  ungarnished  light, 
Which  seeing,  they  won't  see — a  blindness  worse 
Than  Nature's  dark,  unfathomable  curse 
Which  lays  a  vail  upon  her  beauteous  face, 
Thro'  which  no  feature  can  her  victim  trace 
But  seeming  nothingness  and  midnight's  space — 


126  PROGRESSION. 

And  this  too,  -while  they  claim  to  be  but  just! 
Yet  let  the  golden  rule  grow  red  with  rust ; 
For,  't  is  not  "  as  they  would  be  done  by,"  this 
Invasion  of  another's  premises — 
Sees  far  away  Ontario's  waters  blue, 
Niagara's  arch  and  sprays  of  silver  dew, 
Great  Erie's  waves  breaking  in  ceaseless  roar, 
And  fertile  field,  and  wood,  and  rock-bound  shore, 
All  fair  to  look  upon. 

Then  turns  him,  where 
The  myrtle  and-  magnolia  scent  the  air, 
And  orange  blossoms  lend  their  sweets  to  roll 
Above  each  bursting,  downy  cotton  boll; 
Where  skies  are  blue  and  golden  light  pours  down 
In  warm  effulgence  from  Old  Sol's  bright  crown, 
And  fires  the  blood  of  ancient  chivalry 
In  heroes'  veins,  who  boast  a  fair  degree 
Of  that  bright  spirit  which  to  woman  gave 
The  homage  of  the  good,  the  true,  the  brave ! 
And  where    SHE'S  honored,    there,    as    always 

seen, 

The  greatest  moral  excellence  has  been 
And  that  she's  honored  in  the  sunny  clime 
Where  citron  ripens  with  the  yellow  lime, 


SLAVEEY.  127 

Needs  not  be  told — its  noble  sons  full  well 

Attest  her  influence  and  own  her  spell, 

Till  each,  thus  purified,  might  lead  the  van 

"  To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man  1" — 

Sees  Mexico's  broad  gulf  bearing  upon 

Its  restless  waves  the  tithes  of  commerce  on, 

And  Mississippi's  ever-flowing  tides 

Groaning  'neath  products  which  its  fertile  sides 

Yield  in  their  vast  luxuriance — sees  far 

And  near,  a  happy  people  free  from  jar 

Or  discord,  save  the  forced  broils  a  band 

Of  sectionists  spread  thro'  their  peaceful  land, 

Willing  to  heed  the  eleventh  commandment  true, 

"  Mind  your  own  business" — (not  your  neighbor's 

too, 

As  added  and  amended  to  this  clause 
By  folks  in  higher  latitudes,  whose  laws 
Embrace  a  wider  field) — with  faith  in  man 
And  trust  in  God's  supreme  and  hallowed  plan 
Which  in  the  end  will  surely  prove  the  right 
As  sure  as  day  succeeds  the  darksome  night ! — 
Sees    all  this   land,  this   broad  and  beauteous 

land, 
Whose  sons  united,  formed  a  goodly  band; 


128  PROGRESSION. 

But  now  the  close-knit  chain  shows  many  chinks, 
And  hideous  gaps  are  parting  its  firm  links ; 
And  clouds  are  vailing  the  horizon's  blue, 
And  soon  will  darken  all  the  sun's  light  too. 
From  North,  from  South,  from  East,  from  West, 

arise 

These  shadows  o'er  the  brightly  glowing  skies, 
Till  all  in  vain  he  looks  to  find  safe  rest 
Within  the  regions  that  his  heart  loves  best; 
Then,  with  a  lowered  crest  and  drooping  eye, 
He  folds  his  wings  and  lays  him  down  to  die, 
Rather  than  choose  between  the  severing  hosts 
Whose   name   was  "legion,"   and   whose   banner 

boasts 

For  motto  :  "  One  in  many."     Ah !  alas  ! 
The  golden  bowl  seems  as  't  were  made  of  glass, 
And  waiting  but  the  slightest  blow  to  part 
In  minute  fragments  its  full  brittle  heart ! 

That  slavery  of  the  African  will  last 
While  Cotton's  King,  analogy  must  cast 
The  crowning  vote  to ;  for  have  we  not  seen 
All  things  on  earth  subservient  have  been 
To  human  needs,  by  wise,  Almighty  plan  ? 
God's  laws  assisting  the  advance  of  man 


SLAVERY.  129 

Along  the  steep  hill  of  progression.     See 

How  useful  by  this  means  the  Black  can  be 

Toward  beautifying  and  adorning  this 

Fair  earthly  temple,  to  the  praise  of  His 

Omniscient  name,  the  Architect  supreme 

Of  the  whole  universe !  who  deigns  a  gleam 

Of  radiance  to  cast  o'er  savage  man, 

To  rescue  him  from  barbarism's  ban, 

And  place  him  where  his  attributes  will  show 

To  best  advantage,  where  his  part  below 

He  may  act  out,  and  thus  assist  the  whole 

Great  human  mass,  whose  bulk  will  ceaseless  roll, 

Till  grain  by  grain  it  loses  all  its  dross, 

And  rarefying  with  supernal  gloss 

'T  will  shine,  the  embodiment  of  truth  and  love, 

And  fitted  for  a  higher  march  above 

Dull  matter — 't  will,  expanding,  soar  away, 

To  realms  of  glowing  light  and  endless  day  ! 

The  reign  of  superstition  is  not  o'er, 
Altho'  we  boast  more  knowledge  than  of  yore — 
When  bigots  thus  before  the  public  eye 
Can  flaunt  monstrosities,  black  with  the  dye 
Of  falsehood,  to  deceive  the  masses  and 
To  breed  dissension  in  our  peaceful  land. 


130  PROGRESSION. 

But  even  in  enlightened  times,  we've  seen 
Wise  men  and  gentle  women  to  have  been 
Burned  at  the  stake,  because,  like  Faustus,  they 
Were  deemed  possessed  of  demons.     And  to-day, 
'Neath  hydra-headed  Abolition's  sway, 
If  license,  such  as  Cotton  Mather's  time 
Permitted,  granted  was — the  knell  would  chime 
For  each  slaveholder,  and  his  whitening  bones 
Would  bleach  on  cold  fanaticism's  stones, 
The  while  his  blistering  flesh  would  writhe  and 

broil 
On  Black  Republican  gridirons ! 

What  turmoil 

A  band  of  malcontents  can  ever  raise, 
Even  while  they  cover  it  with  prayer  and  praise — 
Thus  desecrating  true  religion's  robe, 
While   rancorous  wounds  with  malice   dire  they 

probe, 

Until  the  festering  sores  spread  far  and  near, 
And  purity  itself  may  almost  fear 
To  catch  the  infection.     But  we  still  will  hope 
Right-judging  minds  exist  in  the  broad  scope 
Our  Northern  limits  have,  and  they  will  yet 
A  better  influence  bring  to  bear,  and  set 


SLAVERY.  131 

The  index  on  the  dial's  face  to  show 

Their  erring  brothers  the  right  road  to  go, 

Nor  let  our  country's  name  become  a  jest, 

For  scoffing  nations  to  make  manifest; 

Our  flag  dishonored,  and  our  unity 

A  by-word  in  each  broad  community ! 

For  all  must  see  (unless  willfully  blind) 

How  useless  't  is  to  hope,  the  South  to  bind 

With  fetters,  or  to  think  she  '11  yield  to  those 

Whom  she  regards  as  bitterest  of  foes ; 

Give  up  her  lawful  rights,  which  soul  and  sense 

At  present  sanction,  to  the  vain  pretense 

Of  sympathy  and  pure  philanthropy 

That's  urged  by  madness  or  misanthropy, 

And  seeks  to  do  an  evil  to  a  race, 

Who  in  creation's  aim  hold  the  right  place 

In  the  progressive  scale  of  being. 

What 

But  sheer  infatuation,  e'er  could  plot 
So  wild  a  scheme  as  it  would  prove  to  be, 
If  e'er  effected,  all  our  Blacks  to  free  ? 
Why,  such  a  gang  of  paupers,  or,  still  worse, 
Of  thieves  and  villains,  would  our  country  curse, 
That  even  Europe's  gipsy  hordes  could  not 


132  PROGKESSION. 

Compare  with;  for  the  Negro  is  a  sot 

Of  beastial  description,  and  when  free 

Spends  most  his  time  in  low  debauchery. 

And  this  the  population  that  would  spread, 

In  vagrant  swarms,  and  in  their  vileness,  shed 

A  merited  opprobium  on  the  head 

That    first    conceived    the    wondrous    plan    that 

set 
The  ball  in  motion ! 

O!  loose  not  the  jet 

Of  the  dark  fountain  whose  rank,  muddy  flow, 
Would    stain    our    land's    unblemished,    spotless 

snow, 
And   where   fair   Peace    and   Plenty  reign,  send 

Want 
With   haggard    brow,   shrunk    limbs,  and   visage 

gaunt. 

The  eighty-first  year  of  our  freedom  crashed 
Like    a   huge   bomb-shell  o'er   the  world!     War 

clash'd 

Its  tocsin  o'er  the  Eastern  Hemisphere. 
For  scarce  did  gentle  Peace  descend  to  bear 
Her  olive-leaf  across  the  Black  Sea's  wave, 
When  India  burst  her  prison  doors  and  gave 


SLAVERY.  133 

Dread   prestige   of   her   barbarous   strength   and 

might, 

Her  vengeance  dire  with  bloody  pen  to  write! 
The  footfalls  of  advancing  liberty 
Echoed  thro'  Spain  and  sunny  Italy, 
Startling  the  powers  that  be — all  Europe  felt 
That   thrones    and   monarchies   were   doomed  to 

melt 

In  the  pure  crucible  of  Justice.     Still 
The  gold  must  first  be  tried,  its  strength  must  fill 
The  measure  of  endurance,  ere  the  pure 
Metal  may  from  the  dross  be  drained — we  're  sure 
By  all  analogy,  that  man  must  be 
First  fitted  for  it,  ere  he  can  be  free  ! 
On  our  own  continent  went,  hand  in  hand, 
Revolting  states.     Again  that  fated  land, 
Uneasy  Mexico,  made  other  laws 
Without  advancing  her  unhappy  cause 
A  single  step  toward  better  government 
Or  national  prosperity.     There  went 
Thro'  Central  America,  the  clash 
Of  civil  war,  and,  twice",  the  meteor  flash 
Of  baseless  government.     Republics,  too, 
In  South  America,  gave  proofs  anew 


134  PROGRESSION. 

Of  instability,  by  popular 

Disturbances;  and  everywhere  the  car 

Of  warfare  national,  rolled  with  its  stains 

Of  blood,  its  kindred  throes  and  gnawing  pains ; 

Save  in  our  own  Republic's  peaceful  shade, 

Which  Heaven  forbid  it  ever  shall  invade ; 

For  rather  than  our  banner  shall  be  rent 

And  on  the  wild  gale  of  disunion  sent 

To  furnish  vultures'  nests ;  or  tattered,  wave 

Above  our  Constitution's  early  grave ; 

I  would  exclaim,  as  did  a  noble  one 

Of  nature's  freemen,  and  the  patriot  son 

Who  sought  his  own  loved  but  down- trodden  land 

To  save  from  despotism's-  iron  band : 

"May  all  the  colors  of  God's  bow  be  torn 

Asunder  ere  that  banner's  stripes  !  " 

The  worn 

And  weary  footsteps  of  the  warring  past 
With  blood  have  made  their  deep-set  marks,  and 

cast 

Their  warnings  forth  upon  the  gale,  to  show 
The  tide  of  liberty  is  in  its  flow  ; 
And  tho'  the  ebb  may  come,  'twill  swell  anew 
And  rise  to  higher  bights  when  full  and  true 


SLAVERY.  135 

The  rounding  moon  of  Progress  shall  have  filled 
Her  horns,  and  o'er  the  purity  distilled 
From  the  foul  lees  of  despotism's  night, 
Shines  out  with  ripe  perfection's  glowing  light 
To  gild  each  billow,  silver-crest  each  wave 
Of  wrong  or  violence,  and  thro'  the  cave 
Where  Lethe-'s  waters  wash  remembrance  out,- 
Turn  every  stream  of  discord,  dread,  and  doubt, 
To  be  but  things  forgotten.     Ah !  ere  then, 
IIow    many    changes    shall    be    wrought    'mong 

men, 

And  fallacies,  and  feuds,  and  creeds  give  way, 
Ere  on  the  horizon  the  perfect  day 
Shall  gleam,  when  peace  and  concord  sweet  shall 

bind 
The  world's  great  family  of  human  kind  ! 

My  Country  !  'twas  thy  priceless  boon  to  lead 
The  way  to  better  things,  nor  do  I  need 
The  prophet's  mantle  to  descend  on  me 
To  tell  how  glorious  may  thy  future  be 
Among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  if  thou 
But  crush  fanaticism.     Thorns  will  grow 
On  fairest  roses,  but  their  points  we  see, 
And  by  destroying,  may  not  wounded  be. 


136  PROGRESSION. 

Why  should  we  prostitute  our  better  sense 

By  granting  license  to  each  foul  pretense 

That  cloaks  the  wish  for  undisputed  power 

'Neath  cover  of  religion's  holy  dower, 

And  throws  contempt  on  laws  and  government, 

Which  to  establish  our  forefathers  went 

Thro'    seas   of    blood,    and    battles'    groans    and 

shrieks  ? 

Must  we  now  yield  to  mad  dictation's  freaks, 
And  tamely  suffer  domination's  rules, 
Which  were  but  made,  at  best,  to  fetter  fools  ? 

0  !  for  the  eloquence  that  thrilled  upon 
The  heart-strings  of  his  countrymen,  when  on 
The  forum  bold  Virginia's  son  stood  forth, 
And,  one  by  one,  let  fall  the  pearls  whose  worth 
A  nation  now  attests.     Ah  !  one  might  give 
Their  heart's  blood,  drop  by  drop,   if  they  could 

live 

One  glorious  hour  like  that  that  lighted  on 
The  brow  of  Patrick  Henry  when  he  won 
The  Assembly's  ear,  and  pointed  to  the  course 
To  guide  his  country's  bark  thro'  breakers  worse 
Than  helmsman  other  than  a  hero  e'er 
Would  fearless  dash  thro',  and  full  boldly  steer 


SLAVERY.  137 

Upon  the  bristling  rock  of  war's  fierce  front. 
0 !  for  a  draught  from  the  celestial  fount 
Of  inspiration,  that  my  pen  might  trace 
The  lineaments  of  Truth's  all-perfect  face, 
To  show  my  brethren,  by  the  contrast,  how 
Ungainly  and  uncouth  foul  Error's  brow — 
That  they  may  thereby  her  embraces  flee, 
And  shake  the  incubus  of  bigotry 
From  their  half-paralyzed  perceptions ! 

Then 

Our  star,  whose  light  is  dimming  fast  'mong  men, 
Would   burst  the  clouds   by  traitors   raised,  and 

shine 

Fair  as  yon  hosts  in  galaxy  divine  ! 
An  ambient  ray  to  gild  our  mighty  deeds; 
A  holy  flame  unswerved  by  feuds  or  creeds ; 
The  torch  whereby  oppression  sees  the  way 
To  flee  from  darkness  unto  bright  noonday; 
The  Vestal's  lamp,  by  purity  supplied, 
That  quenchless  blazes  over  time  and  tide ! 

Alas !  that  e'er  our  honored  name  should  be 
Coupled  with  such  rank,  factious  anarchy 
As  't  is  to-day  !     Must  our  broad  land  be  riven 
With  broils,  because  it  is  the  will  of  Heaven 
12 


138  PROGRESSION. 

To  make  it  the  blest  means  a  class  to  save 
From  Heathenism's  dark,  polluted  grave  ? 
Forbid  it,  Justice !     God  of  Power  and  Might ! 
Roll  back  the  scroll  of  ignorance — let  light 
From  thy  eternal  hills  shower  knowledge  down  : 
And  take  thou  from  our  country's  brow  the  crown 
Of  thorns  that 's  rankling,  festering  there  ! 
0,  Father !  hear  an  earnest,  fervent  prayer. 

'Tis  not  to  pettifogging  dogmatists 
I  would  appeal — as  well  hope  thro'  thick  mists 
To  steer  in  safety,  as  that  one  of  those 
Unyielding  wranglers  who  the  South  oppose, 
Should  list  my  feeble  voice — but  to  "  good  men 
And  true,"    I  'd   show,  their   honor 's  questioned, 

when 

By  weak  supineness  they  encourage  those 
Whose  conduct  proves  them   but   their  country's 

foes, 

And  silently  look  on  to  see  the  rights 
Of  freemen  trampled  by  those  buckram  knights, 
Who  using  Sambo  for  their  dastard  shield, 
Take  a  bold  stand  in  policy's  sham  field, 
And  fain  would  pass  for  pure  philanthropists 
At  the  expense  of  all  wherein  consists 


SLAVERY.  139 

Faith  with  their  fellow-man  !     0  !  brothers,  why — 

Ye  who  can  boast  a  truth-discerning  eye — 

Why  will  ye  suffer  this  foul  leprosy 

To  stain  your  better  nature  ?     Ye  might  be 

The  means,  if  you'd  exert  the  slumbering  power 

That  God  has  vested  in  you,  this  black  hour 

To  blot  from  out  the  calendar — nor  let 

Our  country  be  the  sacrifice  which  yet 

Unto  this  Moloch  must  be  offered,  and 

Which  will  another  Tophet  make  our  land. 

That  land,   by  heroes'  blood   redeemed,  made 

pure, 

The  open-armed  and  ever  friendly  shore 
That  welcomes  all  who  seek  its  peaceful  strand — 
That  it  should  groan  beneath  the  scorching  brand 
Placed  by  its  children  on  its  manhood's  brow  ! 
That  they,  of  all,  should  question  the  pure  vow 
Baptized  in  blood,  but  registered  in  praise 
Beneath  the  dawn  that 's  brought  us   these  blest 

days 

Of  plenty  and  prosperity  !     0  !  shame 
On  all  who  let  a  dastard  purpose,  lame 
In  the  poor  arguments  with  which  it  boasts 
Of  strength — cover  their  eyes  to  hosts 


140  PROGRESSION. 

Of  blessings  which  the  very  law  that  they 

Contend  against,  brings  to  us  all  to-day  ! 

Yes,  all!  for  who  dare  say  the  Black  is  not 

Far  happier,  and  far  better  in  his  lot 

(Tho'  it  be  groaned  o'er  by  each  sycophant 

Whose  whole  religion's  humbugging  and  cant), 

Of  a  well  treated  and  much- cared- for  slave, 

Than  in  a  state  of  freedom  left  to  brave 

Not  only  outside  wants  and  penury, 

But  his  own  savage  nature's  tenure  ?     He 

Has  in  himself  a  greater  foe  than  e'er 

He  'd  find  in  a  kind  master's  thoughtful  care, 

Tho'  would-be  friends  seek  to  divest  him  of 

His  blessings,  showing  thereby  neither  love 

Nor  kindness  prompts  their  measures,  but  desire 

For  domination  kindles  the  wild  fire 

To    whose    red,    hissing    flames    their  brethren's 

rights 
Are  recklessly  consigned. 

My  pen  indites 

These  truths,  not  that  I  would  decry  the  North — 
I  state  but  simple  facts  for  what  they're  worth — 
For  all  this  land  my  country  is,  and  wrong 
Or  right,  is  still  MY  NATIVE  LAND  !     0  !  strong 


SLAVERY.  141 

The  tics  forged  by  those  magic  words,  to  bind 

The  human  heart,  to  link  it  to  its  kind; 

And  dastard  he  who  'd  seek  to  set  a  stain 

Upon  the  sod  that  gave  him  birth,  or  gain 

A  doubtful  reputation  at  the  shrine 

That  immolates  all  that  is  most  divine 

Or  sacred  held  by  man !     Not  this,  not  this 

The  paltry  motive  whose  base  prompting  is 

The  lever  which  calls  forth  what  I  indite ; 

But  when  a  people  willfully  invite 

Contention,  as  the  Northern  mass  has  done 

By  heaping  slanders  and  abuse  upon 

That  section  of  our  land  known  as  "  The  South," 

And  using  for  this  means  the  ready  mouth 

Of  pulpit,  press,  and  rostrum,  to  create 

A  furore  false  'gainst  each  slaveholding  State — 

It  is  but  natural  that  this  should  cause 

Some  refutation  of  our  outraged  laws 

To  be  attempted;  tho'  the  arm  that  wields 

The  defensive  armor,  boasts  not  manhood's  shields 

Of  confidence  and  liberty  of  speech; 

Yet  once,  a  little  child  was  brought  to  teach 

Wise  men,  and  sat  down  in  their  midst! 

And  't  is  this  simple  thought  aroused,  that  bids 


142  PROGRESSION. 

Me  lift  my  feeble  voice  to  quell  the  storm, 
And  call  on  God  to  aid  the  motive  warm 
And  sincere,  that  from  my  heart  of  hearts 
Leaps  into  words,  and  its  own  strength  imparts 
To  what  my  pen,  without  that  motive  true, 
Could  never  fashion  or  do  justice  to. 

Believe  it,  brothers,  I  but  seek  to  bind 
Our  fearfully  disjointed  causes,  twined 
Like  the  soft  tendrils  of  a  clinging  vine 
Around  one  parent  tree — yet  mine,  and  thine, 
'Stead  of  converging  toward  blest  unity, 
Sprea'd,  as  the  poles,  asunder !     This  may  be 
The  wild  chimera  of  an  enthusiast's  brain — 
But   yet   I'll    hope,   that,  like    the  spring's  soft 

rain, 

My  admonitions  may  fall  on  good  seeds 
To  yield  an  hundred  fold,  our  country's  needs 
Full  bounteously  to  furnish  and  supply 
With  wholesome  food,  fair  to  the  polished  eye 
Of  taste,  and  also  palatable  to 
The  healthy  throat  of  probity. 

And  now, 

That  matter  settled — I  would  simply  ask, 
Why  do  our  Northern  brethren  take  the  task, 


SLAVERY.  143 

The  odious  task,  upon  themselves  to  pry 

Into  our  business,  and  to  decry 

Our  institutions  and  our  systems,  all, 

Domestic,  civil,  and  political? 

Have    Southerners    this   course    pursued    toward 

theirs? 

Or  ever  sowed  detraction's  spreading  tares 
To  choke  the  growth  of  sympathy  abroad, 
And  by  base  slanders,  half  unsheath  the  sword 
Of  popular  opinion  in  their  face? 
They,  who  with  us,  should  in  the  struggling  race 
Of  excellence  go  side  by  side,  nor  let 
A  paltry  matter  of  opinion  set 
Wide  open  the  broad  floodgates  of  the  tide 
That  sweeps  our  common  interests  thus  wide 
Apart.     Not  such  the  holy  chain  that  wound 
With  adamantine  links  our  nation  round, 
When  those  brave  hearts,  with  firm  reliance  on 
Divine  protection  in  their  union, 
Mutually  to  each  other  pledged  their  lives, 
Their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor! 

Strives 

There  one,  of  all  the  wrangling  demagogues, 
Whose  leaden  weight  our  native  progress  clogs, 


144  PROGRESSION. 

To  benefit  his  country,  or  impart 

New  impetus  to  college,  church,  or  mart  ? 

Say,  rather,  is  not  selfish  interest 

And  personal  aggrandizement,  at  the  best, 

The  prompting  motives  for  each  fierce  assault 

That  even  at  falsehood's  barrier  does  not  halt, 

But  leaps  alike  o'er  friend  and  foe,  to  gain 

The    dizzy    hights    of   power,    tho'    bought    with 

pain? 

Ah!  would  impartial  eyes  but  only  ope, 
Survey  our  rights  and  wrongs  in  widest  scope, 
Compare  our  institutions  and  our  laws, 
And  make  our  grievances  a  common  cause  ; 
Then,  with  the  wand  of  justice,  mete  to  all 
An  equal  footing  in  our  Congress  Hall ; 
Nor  let  dictation  mount  its  hobby  there, 
And  set  its  iron  heel  on  all  that's  fair, 
Or  equitable  to  a  portion  of 
The  people — meeting  their  demands  with  scoff, 
Or  covering  with  deceitful  smile,  a  dread 
And  treacherous  purpose,  to  lay  low  the  head 
That  shrunk  not  when  its  country  called  to  save 
Sweet  heaven-born  Liberty  from  the  dark  grave 
Dug  by  oppression ;  but  stood  bravely  forth 


SLAVERY.  145 

With  form  erect,  firm  heart,  and  steadfast  worth, 
Pledged  to  the  death  to  fight  for  rights  which  now 
By  brethren's  hands  are  wrenched  from  its  own 

brow.     : 

This  agitated  question — Slavery — 
lias  called  forth  more  bombastic  bravery, 
And  more  inflated  Furiosos  brought 
Forth  from  oblivion's  somber,  dingy  court, 
To  war  in  rhetoric's  windy  field,  than  e'er 
Fanaticism  did  before.     And  here 
I  '11  digress,  just  to  tell  you  why  't  is  so  : 
Didst  ever  note  how  prone  are  all  below, 
To  add  to  what  they  hear  ?     Just  like  the  crow 
Tradition — where  a  man  gave  out  that  he 
Did  something  vomit,  black  as  crow  could  be ; 
When  this  had  gone  the  village  circuit  round, 
The  swiftly-rolling  ball  had  swelled,  't  was  found, 
To  such  a  size,  that  it  was  clearly  shown 
He'd  thrown  up  three  black  crows! 

I  freely  own 

The  joke  is  rather  stale,  but  not  less  true 
To  human  nature's  foibles,  which  with  new 
Adornments  dress  each  story,  foul  or  just, 
And  mountains  make  out  of  each  grain  of  dust ; 
13 


146  PROGRESSION. 

And  there  are  never  wanting  idlers,  who 

Will  roll  the  atom  till  each  layer  anew 

Vests  with  increasing  strength  the  gaining  ball ; 

Then,  as  a  mighty  avalanche,  its  fall 

Awakens  sleeping  echoes  far  and  near 

And  crushes  all  who  come  within  its  sphere ! 

And  so,  each  idle  tale  that  floated  thro' 
The    regions    of    "free    soil,"    black    crow  like, 

drew 

Its  idle  followers  to  roll  the  ball 
E  'en  to  the  portals  of  our  Congress  Hall, 
Where  now,  a  threatened  avalanche,  it  swings 

O 

Upon  a  single  thread — and  discord  brings 
O'er  our  fair  land,  whose  rulers  scarcely  know 
How  Abolition's  tongue  can  turn  a  crow 
To  a  huge  condor — just  as  malice  can 
Grind  to  a  pigmy  a  true-hearted  man  ! 

What    makes   the    matter   worse     (but   this    is 

still 

Only  a  like  sad  phase  of  human  ill), 
These  all-wise  boasters  who  decry  the  South, 
Have  gained  their  knowledge  only  by  the  mouth 
Of  Humor — she  of  many  tongues — the  foul 
Base  slanderer,  whose  harsh,  discordant  howl 


SLAVERY.  147 

Grates  on  the  ear  of  sensibility, 
And  shocks  the  virtuous  to  the  last  degree, 
But  who  is  welcomed  by  her  colleagues  dear 
With   shouts  of  joy  and  cries   of  Hear  !    hear ! 

hear ! 

They  've  never  sought  to  sift  the  chaff  to  find 
The  grains  of  truth,  but  rashly  have  combined 
To  crush  the  South,  because  her  foes  see  fit 
To  clamor  loud,  and  ceaseless  strive  for  it. 

Come  with  me,  one  and  all,  unto  this  land 
I  '11  lead  you  gently,  with  a  loving  hand, 
And  point  out  all  its  beauties,  if  I  can, 
Until,  for  very  shame,  you  '11  to  a  man 
Exclaim  :  "  Is  this  the  people,  these  the  laws 
We  've    sought   to    crush  ?      0  !  surely,  we  must 

pause 

In  our  mad  judgment  of  an  upright  cause 
That  wide  disseminates  its  blessings,  and 
With  peace  and  plenty  crowns  a  happy  land, 
Where  each  the  station  holds  by  Providence 
Assigned     him — and     where      broad     diverging 

thence 

The  bounteous  streams  of  industry  glide  on 
To  beautify  our  common  country." 


148  PROGRESSION. 

Gone 

Will  be  all  prejudice,  if  with  the  eye 
Of  truth  you  seek  our  merits  to  descry, 
And,  with  the  tongue  of  probity,  send  forth 
Your  firm  convictions  for  just  what  they  're  worth, 
When  you  have  fairly  weighed  us  and  our  cause 
'Gainst  wild  fanaticism's  fickle  laws. 


WHERE  the  fair  tropic's  golden  fruits  expand 
Beneath  the  day  god's  glances,  smiles  a  land 
Of  roses — 'tis  fair  Flora's  vast  parterre 
She  holds  her  court  and  highest  revels  there, 
Where  clustering  multiflorous  buds  half  blown, 
O'ercanopy  her  queenly  dahlia  throne  ; 
And  blue-eyed  violets  kiss  her  dainty  feet 
As  up  the  dewy  lawn  they  twinkle  fleet ; 
And  waxen  lilies  shade  their  soft  cheeks  pale, 
And  o'er  their  loveliness  draw  snowy  vail 
As  the  gay  goddess  passes  with  her  train, 
These  garden  nuns  who  pageantry  hold  vain  ! 
Here,  too,  those  sycophants  of  flowerdom 
That  cling  and  cringe  to  each  and  all  that  come, 
Convolvuluses,  decked  in  garments  gay, 
Are  born  to  live  and  die  in  one  short  day 
(The  doom  of  vanity) !     And  here  is  one, 
The  gentle  heliotrope,  that  to  the  sun 

(149) 


150  PROGRESSION. 

Doth  constant  turn  in  adoration  still 
Where'er  he  moves,  the  guidcr  of  her  will — 
Who,    seeking    not    to    charm,    charms    all    the 

more; 

For  unobtrusive  merit's  ever  sure 
To  win  its  way  among  the  just  and  good 
Where  arrogance  Avill  fail ! 

Beneath  a  hood 

Of  rose-color  or  purest  white,  you  spy 
The  periwinkle's  watching,  yellow  eye, 
With  envy  glaring  at  the  lovely  rose, 
Whose  blushes  deepen  as  her  lips  unclose 
To  breathe ta  welcome  to  the  humming-bird 
That's  whispering  in  her  ear  the  witching  word 
With  which  he's  wiled  full  many  a  gentle  flower; 
Then  left,  to  wander  in  a  fresher  bower, 
When  he  has  rifled  it  of  all  its  sweets. 
Here,  too,  transformed  Adonis  faithful  greets 
The  realms  of  air,  as  't  is  his  right  to  be 
Known  half  the  year  as  gay  anemone, 
Flower  of  the  wind,  and  earliest  of  the  spring, 
To  tell  of  coming  buds  and  blossoming. 
The  purple  orchis  waves  in  wildness  here ; 
And  sweet  forget-me-nots,  like  faith,  appear 


THE   SOUTH.  151 

With  starry  eyes  that  smile  and  seem  to  say, 
Love  can  abide  fell  sorrow's  darkest  day 
If  nourished  by  fidelity — and  what 
But  this  thy  emblem,  blest  forget-me-not? 

Thus,  everywhere  around  the  fairies  write 
Their  loving  messages,  their  deeds  indite — 
You  see  their  rings  beneath  the  myrtle's  boughs, 
The  whispering  pines  but  echo  their  soft  vows, 
And  many  a  creamy  white  magnolia  leaf 
Shows  creases  where  they've  written  sonnets  brief; 
And  grave  old  oaks  shake  their  gray  mossy  hairs, 
While  in  the  moonlight  dance  the  elfin  pairs 
To  the  sweet  south  wind's  music,  stealing  o'er 
Some  silvery  lake's  enameled  shelly  shore  ; 
Or  sighing  thro'  some  fragrant  orange  grove 
Where  mocking-birds  discourse  melodious  love, 
And  starry  watchers  in  the  blue  afar 
Wink  their  bright  eyes  as  swells  each  trilling  bar 
To  blend  with  heaven's  seraphic  melodies 
As  softly  as  the  dew  falls  on  the  seas — 
A  half-tone  in  the  harmony  of  spheres, 
But  swelling  still  the  choral  chant  of  years, 
As  up  the  sounding  aisles  of  space  it  rolls 
To  echo  thro'  the  realms  of  happy  souls  ! 


152  PROGRESSION. 

Here,  too,  Pomona  scatters  graciously 
Her  luscious  favors,  and  Vertumnus  (he, 
Her  youthful  spouse)  his  horn  of  plenty,  here 
Replenishes  throughout  the  changing  year ; 
While  Ceres  blesses  all  the  fruitful  land, 
And  bids  it  yield  its  sweets  at  her  command  ; 
And  grateful  thousands  lift  their  voices  high 
In  songs  of  joy  that  echo  to  the  sky, 
And  freely  use  the  blessings  love  has  given. 

By  using — not  abusing — 'tis  to  Heaven 
Mankind  returneth  thanks,  and  earth  can  raise 
A  "new  song"  to  the  great  Creator's  praise 
For  all  his  wondrous  gifts.     "  Let  everything 
That  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord!" — we  're  taught 

to  sing 

By  the  great  Psalmist;  and  we  glorify 
Him     in    his    works    when    'neath    his    arching 

sky 

We  reap  the  harvest  of  his  providence. 
Be  sure  he  has  not  sent  his  bounties  hence 
To  lead  us  into  temptation,  without  still 
Our  minds  impressing  with  the  woful  ill 
That  follows  all  abuses — and  the  wise 
Can  see  the  medium  with  truth's  loving  eyes, 


THE    SOUTH.  153 

And  all  enjoy ;  but  know  where  lies  the  mark 

Which  to  o'erstcp  turns  every  light  to  dark ; 

Yet  in  its  moderate  limits  circles  all 

Of  harmless  pleasure  on  this  earthly  ball, 

And  in  its  innocent  enjoyment  gives 

A  sounding  "  song  of  praise"  from  each  that  lives ! 

'T  is  here  that  true  religion  really  reigns — 
For  God's  great  laws  progress  without  the  stains 
That  Error's  worshipers  imprint — the  schisms 
Wrought  by  false  prophets,  with  their  "ists"  and 

"isms;" 

Those  stumbling-blocks  which  clog  the  road  of  faith 
To  trip  the  weak,  whose  end  is  moral  death. 
No — thanks  to  an  all-wise,  protecting  Power, 
That 's  guided  us  aright  unto  this  hour, 
And  from  all  evil  safe  delivered  us — 
Our  eyes  of  truth  can  see  the  incubus 
That  holds  with  demon  strength  the  fast-closed  lids 
Of  all  fanaticism's  hosts,  and  bids 
Calm  Reason  yield  her  throne  while  Error  sits 
In  judgment  on  the  rights  of  man. 

Cry  "  quits," 

Ye  schemers  wild !  come  to  our  land  and  learn 
Of  those,  whose  laws  ye  in  your  ignorance  spurn; 


PROGRESSION. 

That  'tis  consistent  with  benevolence 
And  one  of  the  designs  of  Providence, 
To  put  each  thing,  or  creature  to  its  use — 
(Neglect's  as  great  a  sin  as  is  abuse) — 
And  surely  God  designed  that  each  should  fill 
A  relative  position,  that  would  still 
Go  to  complete  a  yet  perfecting  whole 
Whence  comfort,  welfare,  happiness  will  roll 
To  circle  man  and  beautify  the  earth 
Thro'  its  own  creatures  of  progressive  birth. 

And  here  that  law  works  in  its  widest  sense, 
And  shows  in  its  results,  the  vain  pretense 
That's  urged  by  wrangling  abolitionism, 
That  there  exists  a  fierce  antagonism 
Between  the  Black  and  White  man.     'Tis  not  so 
When  in  their  true  relation,  each  can  go 
In  harmony  along  the  upward  scale ; 
But  discord  rises  when  rude  hands  assail 
The  heaven-strung  instrument,  and  seek  to  place 
Among  fine  treble  chords  the  harsher  base. 
And  thus  the  social  lyre  is  out  of  tune, 
When,  as  co-equals,  Negroes  can  commune 
With  White  men ;  for  they  are  not  fit  to  be 
Left  their  own  masters,  self-dependent,  free ! 


THE   SOUTH.  155 

As  well  let  loose  your  ox,  your  horse,  your  cow, 

And  then  expect  that  one  will  to  the  plow 

Back  of  his  own  accord — the  other  leap 

Into  harness — and  old  Brindle  keep 

True  to  her  trust,  and  seek  the  dairy's  door — 

As  that  a  liberated  Black  will  pour 

His  labor  forth  for  hire ! 

And  so,  we  see, 

The  Negro  race  can  only  useful  be 
By  working  in  a  rank  subordinate 
To  greater  intellect;  and  thus  the  great 
Design  of  an  all-wise  Creator  is 
Fulfilled,  by  giving  each  his  place  in  this 
Progressing,  fruitful  world,  which  man  must  till 
To  cause  it  yield  abundantly,  to  fill 
His  measure  full  to  overflowing,  and 
With  plenteousness  to  crown  a  happy  land. 
Tho'    nature    has    done   much,   man    must    do 

more 

Of  this,  experience  makes  us  very  sure ; 
And  if  the  South  would  firmly  keep  the  trust 
Reposed  in  her  by  One  both  true  and  just, 
She  '11  go  unflinching  on  her  steady  course, 
And  let  wild  Faction  scream  .till  it  grows  hoarse, 


156  PROGRESSION. 

And  prove  herself  her  country's  truest  friend 

In  thus  maintaining  laws  which  in  the  end 

Will  work  their  own  redemption — for  they  give 

The  real  principles  to  truly  live 

E'en  to  that  class  that's  groaned  over  as  slaves 

In  rescuing  them  from  their  living  graves 

Of  barbarism,  and  developing 

Their  attributes.     There's  nothing  else  will  bring 

The  negro  race  within  the  social  ring, 

To  yield  their  resources  of  labor  here, 

Without  we  place  them  in  their  proper  sphere. 

That  is  a  morbid,  false  philanthropy, 
The  offspring  of  a  weak  misanthropy, 
That  bids  us  loosen  o'er  our  thriving  lands 
Paupers  and  thieves  where  now  are  happy  bands 
Of  disciplined  and  well-conducted  slaves. 
'T  is  madness  or  sheer  wantonness  thus  raves ; 
As  neither  Black  or  White  man  thus  could  be 
A  beneficiary  in  the  least  degree. 
For  one  would  sink  to  beastial  indolence, 
The  other  lack  the  means  of  self-defense 
Against  privation's  biting  stings ;  for  he 
Is  not  by  constitution  made  to  be 
Exposed  to  ardent  heat  like  him  whose  birth 


THE    SOUTH.  157 

Spontaneous  was  with  torrid  elimes  of  earth. 

And  all  these  fertile,  beauteous  lands  would  lie 

Uncultivated  'neath  a  burning  sky; 

The  main  commodity  that  gives,  we  know, 

Employment  to  thousands  here  below 

That  swells  the  tithes  of  commerce,  and  that  fills 

The  revenues  of  other  States — distills 

Its  benefits  North,  South,  East,  West,  to  all — 

Would  fail,  for  want  of  force  to  swing  the  ball 

That  bids  the  manufacturing  levers  work, 

And  feeds  the  very  mouths  that  twist  and  jerk   • 

While  basely  leveling  reproof  at  those 

Who  've  proved  their  greatest  friends  instead  of 

foes. 

Let  but  slave  labor  in  the  cotton  field 
Come  to  an  end,  and  where  will  be  the  yield 
That  Northern  factors  pocket  ?     Ah  !  be  sure 
The  wolf  will  be  not  only  at  our  door, 
But  all  our  country  will  cry  out,  too  late, 
When  small  receipts  of  customs  show  that  hate 
Has    crushed    the   means   that   gave   us   our   in 


crease 


And   brought  contentious   strife   where    all    was 
peace. 


158  PROGRESSION. 

God's  purposes  in  all  things  are  subserved — 
His  will  has  still  controlled,  and  never  swerved, 
Since  mingling  elements  their  march  began 
In  circling  changes  till  they  fashioned  man, 
Who,  with  his  mortal  eyes,  may  fail  to  see 
The  slow,  mysterious  ways  of  Deity. 
But  he  may  rest  assured  they're  good  and  just; 
And  so,  with  childlike  confidence  and  trust, 
Abide  His  time,  who  in  the  beginning  gave 
To  time  its  limits,  and  prepared  the  grave 
In  which  old  things  shall  sink  into  decay, 
When   progress  shall  have  reached  the  brighter 

day 

To  which  convergent  from  creation's  morn 
All  things  terrestrial  have  been  upward  drawn 
By  cords  of  love — fulfilling  the  design 
Eternal,  glorious,  infinite,  divine  ! 

Man  may  not  hasten  the  Almighty's  hand, 
That  rules  the  storm  or  sways  the  breezes  bland — 
That   opes   the  gates   of   Death,  and  parts   the 

way 

For  light  to  enter  thro'  the  realms  of  day — 
That  scattcreth  the  east  wind  o'er  the  earth, 
And  gave  each  shining  star  its  glorious  birth ! 


THE    SOUTH.  159 

He  may  not  question  the  Eternal  One, 

Who   from    the   whirlwind    spake    to    that    poor 

son 

Of  sorrow,  when  he  mourned  his  hapless  fate — 
To  show  him,  that  'tis  God  alone  is  great. 
And  man  must  still  submit  to  his  decrees ; 
He,  who  the  influences  of  Pleiades 
Can  bind,  or  loose  Orion's  bands — can  guide 
Arcturus  with  his  sons,  o'er  the  blue  tide 
Of  space — or,  in  his  season,  can  bring  forth 
Mazzaroth ! 

"We  're  taught  by  this,  the  worth 
Of  patiently  submitting  to  God's  will, 
Which  in  the  end  will  prove  his  wondrous  skill 
By  turning  wrong  to  right,  and  guiding  all 
Conditions  on  this  ever-moving  ball, 
So  that  their  destined  ends,  perfected,  m£y 
Add  brighter  glories  to  the  coming  day, 
Which,  struggling   with  the    darkness,  seeks    to 

climb 

The  distant  zenith  o'er  the  hights  of  time, 
And  shed  o'er  earth  refulgent  light  sublime. 
Why  will  the  North  submit  to  be  the  tool 
Of  monarchists,  who  seek  a  world-wide  rule, 


160  PROGRESSION. 

And  labor  without  ceasing,  early,  late, 
Our  institutions  to  exterminate? 
And  to  this  end  dogmatically  strive, 
By  blowing  a  faint  spark  until,  a  live 
And  glowing  coal,  it  threatens  all  the  land 
To  turn  to  a  fierce,  quivering,  flaming  brand, 
Which,  if  not  checked,  will  hissingly  burn  on 
Until  it  melts  our  bands  of  union, 
And  leaves  the  altar  of  our  liberty, 
A  charred  and  blackened  ruin ! 

This,  we  see, 
Is    but    the    aim    of    those    who  've    duped    the 

North, 

By  propagating  doctrines  whose  whole  worth 
Lay  in  the  selfish  end  to  be  attained. 
And  well  they  've  labored,  and  their  end  's  near 

gifted ; 

Those  antislavery  demagogues,  with  seed 
Plucked  from  the  Old  World's  crown  and  scepter 

breed, 

Which  they  have  planted  in  our  Northern  soil, 
And  pruned  and  watered,  till  their  ceaseless  toil 
Has  been  rewarded — for  their  dupes  and  tools 
Strive  with  them  now  to  overturn  the  rules 


THE   SOUTH.  161 

Laid  down  by  their  forefathers,  lend  their  strength 
To  curtail  freemen's  rights,  by  breadth  and  length  ; 
Nor  would  they  shrink  to  strike  the  dastard  blow 
E'en  if  their  country's  head  was  thus  laid  low  ! 

Why  urge  the  dogma  of  equality  ? 
The  White  and  Black  can  never  equal  be ! 
God  ne'er  designed  it,  else  we  had  not  seen 
Their  attributes  so  different  to  have  been. 
And  even  the  poor  Indians  now  own 
This  to  be  true — as  it  is  clearly  shown 
In  the  late  delegations  of  some  tribes 
Of  red  men  to  our  government.     The  scribes 
On  that  occasion,  penned  things  trite  and  true, 
Altho'  't  was  untaught  tongues  gave  utterance  to 
The  maxims  wise — 't  was  Nature  speaking  thro' 
Her  forest-children's  lips.     Hear  what  she  said : 

"My  Grandfather!"  spoke  one  of  the  chiefs, 

red, 

Addressing  the  Great  Ruler  of  our  land  ; 
"  This  land  on  which  to-day  you  firmly  stand, 
Belonged  to  me.     'T  was  the  Great  Spirit's  will 
That  you  should  take  it  from  us  !  "    Speaking  still 
He  added  :  "  The  Great  Spirit !  that  made  you 
More  powerful  than  me,  was  partial  to 


162  PROGRESSION. 

You,  and  a  letter  color  gave  than  me  ; 
For  it  was  the  Great  Spirit's  will  that  we 
Both  came  into  existence.     You  're  a  man, 
My  Grandfather,  and  so  am  I." 

Say,  can 

Our  vaunted  wisdom  and  enlightenment 
Lead  us  to  wiser  issues,  than  the  bent 
Of  observation  in  rude  savage  breast 
Which  judges  causes  by  results  ?     The  test 
In  this  case,  was  the  White  man's  power 
Which  triumphed  o'er  the  Indian's  given  hour, 
And  proved  to  this  poor  forest  child,  how  vast 
The  line  of  demarcation  that  is  cast 
Between  the  races;  that  the  weaker,  still 
Must  follow  guidance  from  superior  skill, 
If  they  would  find  the  road  from  wrong  to  right 
And  merge  from  darkness  into  broad  noon-light. 

How,  then,  we  ask  each  antislaveryite, 
Are  we  to  guide  the  African  aright? 
We  ne'er  can  hope  that  land  to  colonize; 
At  least,  the  way's  not  clear  yet  to  our  eyes, 
Tho'  nothing  is  impossible  with  God  ! 
And    should    the    time    arrive,-  he  '11    point    the 
road. 


THE   SOUTH. 


163 


But  for  the  present,  we  but  follow  his 

Appointments,  when  we  give  a  place  to  this 

Poor  savage  in  our  midst,  and  kindly  try 

To  open  his  long-closed,  benighted  eye 

To  better  things — the  while  we  may  not  place 

His  guidance  in  his  own  hands,  for  the  race 

Would  run  to  ruin  faster  than  the  mass 

Of  dingy  Black  Republicans  now  pass  ; 

But,  as  we  'd  train  a  little  child  to  go 

Where  wisdom  pointed  us  to  guide  it  so, 

Yet  hold  the  leading-string  to  check,  whene'er 

It  deviated  from  a  proper  sphere, 

So,  with  this  simple  child  of  savage  birth, 

We  seek  to  point  his  steps  aright  on  earth, 

Supply  his  wants  by  turning  his  own  strength 

In  proper  channels,  where  't  will  yield  at  length 

Not  only  personal  necessities, 

But  all  mankind  will,  also,  in  degrees 

Be  the  recipients  of  the  warming,  stream 

Of  light,  that  glides  from  well-directed  beam, 

Which  else,  obscured  beneath  a  thick  vail,  dark 

Would  lie,  because  the  bright  Promethean  spark 

Of  true  philanthropy,  was  quenched  by  hate 

That  spat  upon  its  mission  pure  and  great ! 


164  PROGRESSION. 

Why  is  the  South  denied  equality 
Within  the  Union?     She  does  not,  we  see, 
Ask  anything  unjust,  unwise,  untrue 
To  the  great  cause  which  led  her  to  imbrue 
With    her    heart's    blood    the    standard    of    our 

land 

To  free  it  from  oppression's  galling  band  ! 
Is  it  forgotten  how  her  gallant  sons 
Risked  life  and  fortune  for  us  favored  ones 
Th.at  are  the  beneficiaries  ?     Say, 
Had  Thomas  Jefferso.n  lived  in  our  day 
To  see  the  cause  for  which  he  labored  long, 
Early  and  late — attacked  thus  by  a  strong, 
Hot-headed  host  of  fanatics,  whose  ire 
Was  kindled  at  a  foreign  kingdom's  fire, 
To  be  the  means  of  ruining  that  cause 
Which   dared    oppose   the    Old  World's   grinding 

laws — 

How  would  his  pure,  unselfish  spirit  shrink 
To  see  his  country  trembling  on  the  brink 
Of  the  deep  chasm  dug  by  envy  here 
To  gulf  this  hated  Western  hemisphere 
Before  its  herald  star  shall  lead  all  on 
To  follow  in  the  path  thus  nobly  gone 


THE   SOUTH.  165 

So  far ;  to  crush  it  ere  its  rays  divine 
Shall  draw  all  earth  to  worship  at  the  shrine 
Of  Liberty — that  dragon  to  the  breed 
Of  despots,  who  would  shout  to  see  it  bleed, 
And  now  are  laughing  in  their  sleeves,  to  see 
What  dupes  they've  made  among  the  enemy; 
And  how  New  England  (spite  of  boasted  wit) 
Holds  her  blind  side  for  them  the  coat  to  fit, 
Remodel  the  lean  wearer,  puff,  and  pad 
To  suit  monarchial  dogmas. 

'Tis  too  bad, 

That  wrong  directed  sympathy  should  lead 
To  the  commission  of  so  foul  a  deed 
As  will  be  perpetrated  if  the  rights 
Of  the  fair  South  are  subject  to  such  slights 
As  have  been  heaped  upon  it,  far  and  wide, 
Where'er  has  flowed  the  muddy,  surging  tide 
Of  Abolition.     Yes,  a  deed  so  foul 
That  angels  well  may  weep  at — demons  howl — 
When  our  fair  Union  is  rent  in  twain, 
As  it  must  be,  if  this  upheaving  main 
Is  suffered  longer  to  encroach  upon 
Our   borders.     It    has    swelled    and   rolled    still 
on, 


166  PROGRESSION. 

Bearing  upon  its  chafing  waves  the  scum 
Of  party  feeling,  till  the  drift's  become 
A  formidable  barrier  which  shuts  in 
Our  privileges  ;  and  the  angry  din 
Of  battle,  embryoed  in  words  at  first, 
Will  yet  upon  our  startled  hearing  burst 
If  longer  parley  is  allowed. 

"  Thus  far, 

And  no  farther  shalt  thou  go,"  is  just ;  a  bar 
Must  ever  stop  oppression,  let  it  come 
From  any  source  it  will,  e'en  from  our  home. 
We  may  regret  the  dire  necessity 
That  forces  the  sad  deed ;  but  we  must  be 
Placed  in  our  true  position  in  this  land, 
And  then  we  '11  pledge  our  lives  to  nobly  stand 
By  it,  as  we  have  ever  done,  thro'  good 
Or  ill.     But  if  the  prating,  meddling  brood 
Of  Black  Republicans  must  dictate  to 
Our  government,  and  show  it  what  to  do; 
And  Southern  rights,  equality,  and  space 
Be  left  for  these  foul  demagogues  to  trace 
The  limits  of — then  must  we  look  to  God 
To    judge    our    cause,    and    use    the    avenging 
rod, 


THE   SOUTH.  167 

If  we  do  err  in  seeking  for  ourselves 

A  standard  for  which  justice  vainly  delves 

At  present ! 

Vail  thy  face,  fair  Liberty ! 
If  this,  thy  boasted  throne,  is  thus  to  be 
Ruled  by  rank  faction.      'Tis  a  misnomer, 
Might  well  incite  satiric  caviler 
To  call  it  thy  abiding  place,  or  raise 
Thy  altar,  if  we  desecrate  thy  praise 
In  this  way ;   if  the  mob  can  sway  the  mass, 
And  trample  common  sense,  to  rudely  pass 
Beyond  all  barriers  social,  civil,  and 
Implant  their  right  to  lead  and  rule  the  land — 
Dictate  to  and  chastise,  control  and  teach, 
Let  hatred  prompt,  fanaticism  preach, 
And  Idiocy  condemn,  approve,  or  boast 
With  maudlin  leer,  that  it  can  rule  the  roast ! 
That  individual  sovereignty  must  yield 
When    cap-and-bells     and    long-ears     take     the 

field 

To  bray  down  justice  and  equality 
With  venomed  partisan  garrulity. 

We  '11  now  take  up  the  term  "  equality," 
The  Abolition  watchword  !     First,  we  see, 


LL- 


168  PROGRESSION. 

The  lexicographer  defining  it 

As  "  uniformity,"  an  equal  fit 

Of  two  or  more  things  to  each  other.     See, 

If  by  this  rule,  the  White  and  Black  can  be 

On  the  same  footing?     And,  again,  we  find 

The  word  as  "  similarity,"  defined. 

Pray,  will  you  equalizers  tell  us,  where, 

Or  in  what  manner,  habit,  Negroes  are 

Or  ever  can  be,  similar  to  Whites  ? 

The  question  all  your  logic  now  invites. 

Come  one  and  all,  with  Freddy  at  your  head, 

Here's  chance  for  screaming,  if  you  wish  to  shed 

A  light  on  this  dark  subject;  for  I  own 

I've  tried  to  fathom  it,  but  fairly  shown 

My  inability  to  do  so.     Now, 

I  call  on  you  to  speak — no  matter  how — 

We'll  make  excuses  for  your  want  of  grace, 

In  Balaam's  time  a  like  event  took  place! 

We  only  ask  you  to  enlighten  us, 

Upon  a  point  that  you  so  oft  discuss, 

That  we  may  share  your  erudition,  and 

Be  blest  partakers  of  its  precepts  grand, 

Which  in  the  rules  of  order,  "  Heaven's  first  law," 

Can  find  an  error  and  detect  a  flaw 


THE    SOUTH.  169 

And  (wiser  than  Omnipotence)  aspire 
To  re-string  all  the  chords  of  Nature's  lyre, 
So  that  the  squeaking  fiddle  of  base  peers 
May  drown  the  rolling  anthems  of  the  spheres ! 

Meantime,  I'll  tell  you  how  the  South  defines 
Equality:  We've  seen,  each  star  that  shines 
"With  phosphorescent  gleam  in  ether's  sea, 
Hath  in  itself  a  differing  degree 
Of  glory — a  fixed  light  assigned  each  one. 
We're  told,  "There  is  a  glory  of  the  sun, 
Another  of  the  moon,  and  of  the  stars, 
And  one  star  differs  from  another."     Wars 
There  any  'gainst  this  creed  ?     Then  let  him  look 
Above,  in  the  blue-covered,  gilded  book, 
Whose  leaves  are  ever  open  to  his  sight, 
And  read  the  lesson  God's  pen  there  did  write 
For  man  to  profit  by.     He  '11  learn  to  know 
That  true  equality,  above,  below, 
Consists  in  each  tiling  holding  its  own  place  ; 
Whether  a  system,  world,  or  but  a  race, 
If  its  light  shine  in  its  own  given  sphere, 
It  radiates  a  beam  both  bright  and  clear, 
Tho'  but  a  planet  borrowing  its  rays 
From  golden  sun  glowing  with  inward  blaze. 
15 


170  PROGRESSION. 

But  0  !  how  vain  to  hope  to  emulate 
The  flooded  splendor  of  its  primary  great; 
To  equal  the  bright  source  of  its  own  light ! 
Then  its  dependence  would  soon  come  to  sight. 
The  only  equalizing  process  is 
Its  oivn  true  orbit  to  hold  fast  in  this 
Grand  panorama,  still  to  add  its  mite 
Of  usefulness,  and  shed  its  borrowed  light, 
The  universe  to  bless ;  and  then  't  will  be 
Equal  to  suns  of  radiant  degree! 
And  such  alone  is  true  equality, 
To  do  your  duty  in  that  station  God 
Hath  here  appointed,  by  his  wondrous  word. 
Let  man  do  this — angels  can  do  no  more — • 
If  he  would  equal  those  who  rapt  adore 
Their  Great  Creator,  face  to  face,  where  rolls 
The  sounding  praises  of  enfranchised  souls ! 
Where  is  the  Negro's  field  of  usefulness? 
Is  it  in  council-chamber,  at  the  press, 
Or  bar;  in  pulpit,  auditorium, 
Or  learning's  intricate  emporium? 
Say,  can  he  climb  Parnassus,  or  entwine 
The   laurel   plucked  where   roam   the    Heavenly 
Nine? 


THE   SOUTH.  171 

lias  Deity  imprinted  on  his  brow 

The  seal  to  which  all  creatures  humbly  bow? 

Do  pearls  of  thought  there  scintillate  and  gleam, 

Or  rich  imaginings  send  forth  a  stream 

Of  living  glory's  radiating  beam? 

You  may  reply,  The  pearls  want  polishing  ; 
How  test  their  rays,  if  ne'er  abolishing 
Their  rough  crustations  ?    Ah !  true  gems  will  show 
Themselves,  even  if  bedded  far  below 
Their  outer  coverings  ;  so  may  we  find 
In  the  uneducated,  gleams  of  mind, 
Which  'neath  the  mental  lapidary's  hand 
May  luster  get  to  fit  them  to  command ! 
But  we  apply  the  lens  in  vain,  in  vain 
To  find  such  rays  within  the  Negro's  brain — 
For  there  alone  the  coarser  instincts  reign. 
Refinement,  elegance,  or  perfect  taste, 
If  planted  there,  would  surely  run  to  waste; 
The  soil  is  uncongenial  to  such  growth — 
Imagination  and  reflection  both 
Are  wanting  ;  but  the  animal,  combined 
With  the  domestic  properties,  is  shrined 
Which  gives  the  Negro  a  subordinate 
Relation  to  the  White  man.     'T  is  his  fate — 


172  PROGRESSION. 

The  fiat  of  creation — that  he  still 
This  rank  below  must  uncomplaining  fill. 
To  place  him  on  the  White  man's  level,  we 
Destroy  the  basis  of  equality — 
We  're  only  equal  in  our  proper  spheres  ! 
But  to  annul  this  footing  now  appears 
To  be  the  end  and  aim  of  those  who  strive, 
Against  all  principle,  to  keep  alive 
The  quivering  flame,  lit  in  unholy  cause 
Against  creation's  and  our  Maker's  laws ! 
This  shows,  the  fundamental  principles 
Of  what  knaves  vaunt  about  in  madd'ning  yells, 
So  far  exceed  their  gross  perceptions,  that 
In  Truth's  pure  light,  they  're  blind  as  is  a  bat 
In  sunshine  !     So  they  spout,  and  rant,  and  rave 
Bombastic'Jy  about  the  Southern  Slave 
(Who'd  open  wide  his  eyes  to  hear  them  tell 
How  cruelly  he  's  treated) ;  and  they  swell 
His  grievances  to  such  a  blackened  stream 
That  Styx  compared  to  it,  would  fairly  gleam 
With  lacteal  luster.     They  dark  portraits  draw 
In  falsehood's  hues,  of  sanguine  conflicts  raw, 
Between  psalm-singing  Uncle  Toms,  and  Turks 
Of  masters  fierce — (and,  by  the  way,  there  lurks 


THE    SOUTH.  173 

A  clue  to  the  enlightenment  of  one 

Dark  labyrinth  in  a  sheer  romance,  but  done 

To  suit  a  morbid  appetite.     We  find, 

The    coarse,    harsh   master,   Mistress   Stowe  has 

shrin'd 

To  represent  a  Southern  Planter,  claims 
New   England   as   his  birthplace!      Hot,    would 

shome's 
Bright  blood  mount  flaming   to  the   cheeks  and 

brows 

Of  the  South's  own  true-hearted  sons,  if  vows 
Of  cruelty  and  deeds  of  blood  should  be 
E'er  dreamed  of  by  them,  such  as  one  "Legree" 
Is  made  the  mover  of  in  that  tirade. 
But  he  but  follows  all  his  colleagues'  trade — 
Dictation  to  the  death,  is  their  employ  f 
And  this  is  why  they  pour  their  base  alloy 
O'er  our  pure  laws,  and  prate  equality 
While  crushing  it  with  iron  heel.) 

We  see 

How  far  fanaticism  leads  men  on, 
By  measuring  the  lengths  these  dupes  have  gone ; 
Who,  all-forgetful  of  the  ties  that  bind 
These  States  in  union,  by  joint  interest  twined, 


174  PROGRESSION. 

Would  take  from  us,  their  equals  by  God's  laws, 
A  right  to  judge  or  advocate  a  cause 
Involving  national  prosperity, 
And  circumscribe  in  limited  degree 
Our  territory,  while  they  dwarf,  confine 
Our  resources  in  bigotry's  dark  mine; 
As  may  be  seen  by  all  who  look  abroad 
And  view  the  flaming,  bright  despotic  sword 
Of  Empire,  which  the  North's  cold  hand  now  waits 
To  grasp,  ere  fiercely  it  decapitates 
That  gorgon  in  its  path — the  sunny  South — 
Who,  let  her  but  essay  to  ope  her  mouth, 
Iler  wholesome  precepts  are  transformed  to  snakes 
By  those  who  in  Power's  temple  hold  the  stakes, 
And  fearful  of  our  Federal  rights  and  rules, 
Remodel  them  to  suit  despotic  schools ! 
Your  philanthropic  novel  writers  may 
Work  on  credulity,  and  mayhap,  sway 
The  tender-hearted  for  a  time,  with  scenes 
Drawn  from  imagination's  painted  screens, 
And  highly  colored  to  comport  with  what 
Their  colleagues  wildly  scheme  and  basely  plot 
'Gainst  every  argument  of  common  sense, 
To  give  a  substance  to  a  false  pretense, 


THE   SOUTH.  175 

And  hoodwink  justice,  while  they  seek  to  gain 
The  balance  of  that  power  for  which  they  strain 
Each  nerve  and  every  fiber  of  heart,  soul,  sense, 
Aided  by  rank  duplicity  ;  and  hence 
They  work   their    way  where   honest   folk   draw 

back, 

Preferring  the  straightforward,  open  track, 
Open  alike  to  friend  and  foe,  that  all 
May  see  their  movements,  if  they  rise  or  fall, 
Disdaining  subterfuge,  and  seeking  still 
To  call  forth  friendliness  and  pure  good-will 
From  their  opponents ;  but,  in  case  they  fail, 
Ready  to  boldly  guard  what  foes  assail, 
Stand  by  their  rights,  as  freemen  should,  to  death, 
And  die  proclaiming  them  with  latest  breath, 
If  need  be ! 

This,  the  difference,  that  lies 
Open  to  all  impartial,  candid  eyes, 
Between  the  North  and  South  to-day.     The  land, 
Purchased  with  price  of  blood  by  patriot  band, 
Made  the  low  theater  of  party  strife. 
But,  thanks  to  God  !  the  South  drew  not  the  knife 
Upon  her  brother's  heart;  her  work  and  cares 
Have  ever  been  about  her  own  affairs, 


176  PROGRESSION. 

With  faith  in  all  her  kindred,  North,  East,  West, 
She 's  wisely  thought  they   knew   their   business 

best, 

And  were  as  capable  of  minding  it 
As  she  would  be  to  leave  her  own  and  sit 
In  judgment  on  their  actions.     All  can  find 
Sufficient  business  of  their  own  to  mind, 
Without  a  thankless  interference  in 
The  affairs  of  others.     Thus,  the  deep  sin 
Of  severing  the  bonds  left  to  us  pure, 
If  perpetrated,  lies  not  at  our  door. 
Wre 've  ever  been  true  to  the  sacred  cause 
Which  led  our  forefathers  to  fight  for  lawa 
Which  would  secure  them  from  oppression — now 
We  feel  that  hot  brand  searing  our  own  brow, 
And  't  is  a  brother's  hand  hath  placed  it  there  ! 
We  pause — for  him  to  move  it — ere  we  tear 
It  ruthlessly  from  the  proud  head  it  thus 
Dishonors  ! 

Dear  the  Union  is  to  us — 
Dear  from  its  history,  and  from  the  names 
Enrolled  upon  its  archives !     Ne'er  will  shame's 
Condemning  flush  rise  on  the  South's  fair  face 
When  called  her  moiety  therein  to  trace. 


THE   SOUTH.  177 

She  sent  her  Washington  to  lead  the  host 
To  freedom  !  and  may,  all-exultant,  boast 
Another  noble  star  of  first  degree, 
The  true  apostle  of  sweet  Liberty, 
In  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  wise,  the  good  ! 
And  in  her  glorious  galaxy  there  stood 
Conspicuous,  Henry,  Morgan,  Marion. 
Shall  names  like  these  fail  to  shine  out  upon 
Her  honor,  and  to  increase  its  light  ?     And  still 
Are  hosts  of  others  every  blank  to  fill; 
There,  Shelby,  Laurens,  Pinckney,  Sumter,  tell 
That  patriot  hearts  in  Southern  bosoms  dwell ; 
And  Eutaw's  field,  and  Yorktown's  battered  walls, 
ShoAV  courage  is  not  wanting  when  the  calls 
Of  country  ask  avenging  arms  to  save 
From  tyranny's  dishonored,  darksome  grave. 
Proud  Tarleton's  lowered  crest  on  Cowpen's  field, 
Show'd   Southern   force  could   make    a   braggart 

yield  ; 
King's    Mountain's  hights  proclaimed  in  bloody 

words 

The  value  of  stanch  hearts  and  Southern  swords ; 
And  Valley  Forge,  if  it  had  tongues,  might  speak 
Of  sufferings  that  would  blanch  the  stoutest  cheek, 


178  PROGRESSION. 

Endured  for  love  of  country,  by  the  brave, 
True  Southern  tide  of  that  almighty  wave 
That  was  to  roll  above  and  free  the  land 
Of  a  despotic  kingdom's  hireling  band 
Of  mercenaries. 

Say,  my  brethren,  say, 
Are  we  less  true  to  freedom's  cause  to-day, 
Than  we  were  then  ?     Think  you  that  brows  that 

spurned 

Control  from,  parent  hand,  and  proudly  turned 
From  mother  England  when  she  grew  unjust, 
Will  bend  to  those  who  have  betrayed  the  trust 
Reposed  in  them  ?     Altho'  a  kindred  tie 
Unites  us  all,  too  deep  within  us  lie 
The  seeds  implanted  by  our  fathers  bold, 
To  guard  our  rights  e'en  from  a  brother's  hold, 
If  he  encroaches  on  the  limits  set 
When  justice  and  equality  have  met 
To  guard  them.     Think  of  this,  'tis  all  we  ask; 
You  then  will  see  how  odious  the  task 
That  you  have  voluntarily  assumed, 
Mast  in  our  eyes  appear.     You  have  presumed 
Too  far,  and  if  you  're  just  you  ''11  own  to  this, 
Nor  ra,shly  push  the  matter  till  there  is 


THE   SOUTH.  179 

No  honorable  path  left  for  the  South 

But  to  withdraw  herself  from  the  cold  mouth 

That  with  a  Judas'  kiss  would  thus  betray 

Its  country ;  for  the  hope  of  power  and  sway 

That    may   be   gained    if  the    South    yields    her 

right, 

Is  the  true  motive  of  your  dastard  fight! 
Ah  !  this  is  a  sad  picture,  and  it  pains 
My  heart  to  paint  it.     Surely  there  remains 
Some  brightening  tints  to  gild  the  portrait  dark  ? 
Some  flashes  of  a  clearer,  holier  spark 
That  latent  lies  within  fraternal  breasts, 
To  glow  and  radiate  when  the  kindling  tests 
Are  tried,  of  partings  that  will  wring  the  heart 
(If  the  South  takes  the  firm  resolve  to  part 
Rather  than  lie  down  bleeding  at  the  feet 
Of  Northern  despotism)  ?     Then  will  meet 
Sons,  fathers,  brothers,  to  unlink  the  chain 
By  Nature  riveted,  but  rent  in  twain 
By  goading  malice  under  friendly  guise  ! 
0  !  ere  that  clouded  dawn  shall  darkly  rise 
O'er  our  loved  land,  will  not  some  patriot  soul 
Step  forth  to  turn  the  scales  ?     Nor  let  the  foul 
And  parricidal  act  be  hastened  on 


180  PROGRESSION. 

By  the  base  means  that  heretofore  have  done 
The  insidious  work. 

0  !  could  I  speak 
The  thoughts  that  wring  my  heart  and  blanch  my 

cheek, 

I  'd  surely  prove  to  ye,  my  brothers,  all, 
How  great  will  be  our  honored  country's  fall 
If  such  a  consummation  of  wild  schemes 
Is  wrought  beneath  our  day-star's  sacred  beams. 
Were  I  but  blessed  with  angel  eloquence, 
I  'd  send  a  stream  of  light  convergent  hence 
To  reach  the  holy  sanctuary  within 
Each  heart,  and  show  the  heinous,  monstrous  sin 
That  ye  are  perpetrating,  all  ye  hosts 
Of  instigators — who  now  make  your  boasts 
Of  having  gained  the  day  for  which  ye  've  striven 
To    crush    your    brethren's   rights    before    High 

Heaven ! 

Can  ye  not  see  the  ill  ye  've  surely  wrought  ? 
Do  ye  not  force  an  act  whose  memory — fraught 
With  vain  repinings  and  regrets,  too  late — 
Will  blacken  all  your  future's  somber  fate  ? 
Down,  down  Dictation  !  cease  your  grinding  rules, 
Which  only  cowards  yield  to,  knaves,  or  fools. 


THE    SOUTH.  181 

You  vainly  strive  on  Freedom's  neck  your  yoke 
To  place;  it  bends  not — but  it  may  be  broke 
And  in  its  shattered  fragments  you  will  find 
But  wild  remorse,  for  having  rashly  twin'd 
A  cord  to  strangle  Liberty's  sweet  breath, 
And    caused    your    country's    dark,    dishonored 

death ! 

0  !  here,  where  ambient  skies  and  balmy  airs 
Distill  etherial  mildness — nature  wears 
Perennial  verdure,  and  great  hearts  expand 
Beneath  her  genial  influence,  strong  yet  bland — 
Think  you,  our  Southern  blood  thrills  not  as  true 
With  patriotism,  and  leaps  up  anew, 
Indignant  at  oppression,  as  with  you, 
Girt  with  a  chilling  atmosphere  of  frost 
In  which  vitality  is  almost  lost  ? 
Think  you,  the  bounteousness  here  spread  abroad 
By  an  all-powerful  and  generous  God, 
Wakes  in  our  warm  hearts  no  responsive  swell 
To  him,  who  with  abundance,  shows  how  well 
He  recompenses  our  fidelity, 
In  honoring  his  most  wise  and  just  decree, 
By  giving  each  thing  its  own  proper  place 
In  this  progressive,  onward,  upward  race  ? 


182  PROGRESSION. 

Ay,  ready  hearts  and  willing  hands  here  strive 

To  keep  the  sacred  flame  of  Truth  alive 

Upon  the  altar  of  just  principle  ; 

Whose  maxims  holy  and  invincible, 

Are  graved  too  deeply  to  be  e'er  erased 

By  partisan  scurrility,  tho'  graced 

With  theologian  dogmas,  which  but  show 

Religion  never  yet  was  made  to  go 

With  politics.     Here,  no  professions  we 

E'er  make — here's  no  self-righteous  Pharisee— 

We  own  we  're  human,  and  as  such,  oft  err ; 

Yet  still,  one  rule  finds  ready  worshiper 

In  all:  To  strive  to  do  to  others  as 

We  'd  have  them  do  to  us ! 

Now  this,  alas ! 
Seems    blotted    from    our    Northern    brethren's 

code; 

And,  as  companions  on  their  upward  (!)  road, 
They  cherish  hatred,  animosity, 
And  vent  in  petty  spites,  antipathy 
To  all  our  institutions;  while  they  raise 
A  standard  of  their  own  for  prayer  and  praise, 
And  climb  to  heaven  upon  the  sins  of  all 
They  've  trampled  on  this  sin-provoking  ball ! 


THE   SOUTH.  183 

No    doubt   we   have   a   heathenish   look  com 
pared 

To  them,  for  we  have  never  wildly  shared 
In  the  excitement  by  false  prophets  raised — 
Uniquely  showing  how  God  may  be  praised, 
By  desecrating  every  moral  law, 
And  finding  in  each  physical,  a  flaw ! 
We  know  our  soil  is  not  congenial  to 
This  fungus  growth ;  and  we  're  content  to  go 
Along  the  plainer  track  of  common  sense, 
Nor  yield  to  every  doubtful,  wild  pretense, 
By  fanatics  set  forth  to  justify 
Their  measures — while  they  scomngly  defy 
Their  country  and  their  Mak^r,  and  insist 
That  truth  lies  at  the  bottom  of  each  "1st" 
And  "  ism."     Hence,  we've  seen,  how  quick  the 

growth 

Of  these  monstrosities  at  the  far  North, 
And  "free  love,"  "  Mormonism,"  and  their  train 
Of  untold  evils,  have  progressed  amain 
Thro' out  the  land,  until  'twould  seem,  indeed, 
That  the  "  Sixth  Angel,"  mentioned  in  the  creed 
Of  Revelation,  had  his  wrath  poured  out, 
And  "unclean  spirits,  like  to  frogs,  come  out 


184  PROGRESSION. 

The  Dragon's  mouth,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Beast, 
And  the  mouth  of  the  false  Prophet."     Such,  at 

least, 

These  vile  productions  of  distorted  faith 
Seem,  in  their  heinous  properties,  whose  breath 
Sullies  the  face  of  Truth's  pure  mirror,  while 
The  foul  streams  pour  libations  rank  and  vile, 
To  overrun  and  to  pollute  the  land 
"With  the  dark  scum  rising  on  Error's  strand, 
And  drifting  inward,  with  its  tidal  might, 
To  quench  Religion's  holy,  sacred  light ! 

Ah !  true  religion,  based  on  chanty, 
So  far  exceeds  such  vile  barbarity, 
That  a  comparison  between  them  ne'er 
May  be  attempted  on  our  mundane  sphere  ; 
For  we  would  not  pollute  a  shrine  so  pure 
By  mingling  with  its  music  the  harsh  roar 
Of  wolves  and  lions,  to  attest  its  power 
Harmonious  over  discord's  angry  dower. 
But,   would  we    seek    for    the    blessed    spot    on 

earth 

Where  this  most  holy  cause  has  ne'er  a  dearth 
Of  followers — we'll  find  that  sacred  spot 
To  be,  where  bigotry  leaves  not  a  blot 


THE   SOUTH.  185 

To  sully  the  fair  face  of  tolerance  ; 
Where  love  of  man  does  love  of  G-od  enhance; 
Where  nature's  beauties  are  enjoyed  by  all 
As  gifts  from  Heaven,  and  no  dull,  leaden  pall 
Is  laid  o'er  innocent  amusement  to  invest 
Sweet  holiness  with  terror — as,  when  drest 
In  sackcloth,  it  must  ever  seem  a.  gnome, 
To  lead  the  young  to  a  cold,  gloomy  tomb, 
In  which  their  natural  gayety  must  lie 
Buried  forever  from  each  mortal  eye. 
Ah !  where  God's  worshiped  in  glad  anthems,  there 
Arises  truest  praise  and  holiest  prayer ; 
And  where  man  for  his  brother  finds  excuse, 
If  weakness  leads  him  to  excess  (abuse 
Of  nature's  privileges),  in  his  own 
Frail  being's  foibles — which  will  still  atone 
For  many  errors  he  mayhap  commit — • 
For  we  're  expressly  told,  we  may  not  sit 
In  judgment  on  each  other,  lest  we  be 
Judged  by  a  like  imperative  decree. 
'T  is  only  where  all  kindly  feelings  thrive, 
That  piety's  pure  spark  is  kept  alive ; 
Where  love  and  charity  lend  their  whole  strength, 
To  fan  it,  till  a  steady  flame  at  length, 
16 


186  PROGRESSION. 

It  mounts  to  lieaven  from  altar  pure  and  true, 
Which  no  fanatic  stain  may  e'er  imbrue 
With  oversteeped  discolorings  from  the  fount 
Where  falsehood  bubbles  and  doubt's  vapors  mount. 

There  is  a  land  where  happiness  thus  reigns 
Without  the  clog  of  all  the  clanking  chains 
In  darkness  forged.     Wouldst  find   it  ?      Seek  it 

HERE  ! 

We  've  room  for  millions,  and  you  need  not  fear 
To  test  our  Southern  hospitality. 
Warm  hearts  are  beating  where  each  small  degree 
Of  latitude  but  brings  us  nearer  to 
The  fount  of  warmth,  the  source  of  light,  the  true 
Inspirer  of  each  ardent  impulse — he 
By  all  acknowledged  day's  divinity, 
Great  Sol !  who  broad  dispenses  loving  smiles 
To  teach  us  mortals  how  sweet  faith  beguiles 
Dark  doubt  of  all  its  harsh  incrustings,  in 
Thus  lovingly  enfolding  earth  to  win 
The  treasures  buried  deeply  in  her  heart, 
Which   his  warm,  generous   smile   of  trust,  will 

start 

To  life  and  bloom ;  but  which  'neath  chilling  blast 
Of  doubting  wind,  their  tender  leaves  would  cast ; 


THE   SOUTH.  187 

Put  forth  no  buds  of  promise,  but  fall  dead, 
Because  kind  influence  was  not  around  them  shed  ! 
But  faith  and  kindness  here  go  hand  in  hand ; 
Come  !  tho'  your  prejudices  North  may  stand, 
Yet  here,  once  here,  they  must,  they  will  give  way 
Before  the  clearer  beam,  the  brighter  day 
Poured  from  our  tropic  sun's  enlightening  ray ! 

When  once  amongst  us,  you  will  find  how  much 
Of  confidence  is  to  be  placed  in  such 
Distorted  statements  as  your  "  shriekers  "  give. 
Their  trade  ignores  the  text,  "  Live  and  let  live," 
For  not  content  with  living  their  own  way, 
They  'd  change  the  mode  of  those  more  blest  than 

they 

Are ;   while  their  practice  contradicts  in  full 
Their  precept — as  one  must  be  very  dull 
Not  to  perceive  how  ill  equality 
With  Blacks,  sits  on  their  puffy  dignity  ! 
Cuffy  does  very  well  to  groan  about, 
But  when  he  comes  too  near,  he  's  put  to  rout ; 
And,  as  a  freeman,  in  a  freesoil  state, 
Experiences  far  greater  slights  than  wait 
Him  here,  where  he  is  kindly  cared  for,  and 
Warm  sympathy  excites  on  every  hand. 


188  PROGRESSION. 

For  tho'  a  slave,  he  's  human,  still,  and  shares 
His  master's  bounty,'  while  he  'scapes  his  cares ; 
And  is  regarded  in  each  household  band 
As  member  of  the  family.     No  hand 
Disdains  his  proffered  grasp,  no  children  there 
Refuse  their  love  and  kiss  with  him  to  share ; 
And  "Mammy"  is  a  queen-bee  in  each  hive 
For  subjects,  White  and  Black,  to  proudly  strive 
Who  shall  with  greatest  honors  load  her  down ! 
Would   not    your   free-soil    matrons    shrink    and 

frown 

To  see  their  infant  rose-buds  clinging  round 
These  sooty  goddesses  in  nursery  crowned  ? 
And  yet  you  prate  equality  tho'  blind 
To  all  its  bearings  ! 

We  've,  you  see,  divined 
How  far  your  equalizing  process  goes : 
You  'd  like  to  crush  those  you  regard  as  foes, 
Because  they  differ  in  opinion ;  and 
The  readiest  means  to  do  so,  you  command. 
Poor  Sambo  's  dragged  from  quietude  to  be 
Your  shield,  and  in  the  warfare  gets,  we  see, 
The  wounds — for  you  but  cause  his  owner  to 
Curtail  his  privileges,  and  to  go 


THE   SOUTH.  189 

To  greater  lengths,  more  rigid  means  to  save 
His  property  from  felon's  grasp.     You  have 
Thus  heaped  upon  us  all,  both  White  and  Black, 
Annoyance,  and  in  this  you  draw  not  back ; 
And  why,  why  do  you  do  this  thing  ?     To  be, 
We  answer,  rulers,  lords  of  all  you  see ! 
For  prating  kindness  does  not  come  to  acts; 
The  Negro  finds  he  has  to  deal  with  facts, 
Cold,  stubborn  facts,  when  on  your  soil  he  learns 
Ilis  stanch  adviser,  promised  friend,  now  spurns 
His  brotherly  regard,  and  turns  his  back 
When  funds  and  labor  both  are  getting  slack, 
And  the  poor  outcast,  who  has  birthright  sold, 
Finds  out,  too  late,  the  pottage  is  all  cold  ! 

Ah !  better,  would  you  kindly  with  us  join 
To  polish  this  neglected,  barbarous  coin, 
So  that  the  metal  may  ring  bright  and  clear 
Upon  Truth's  pure  and  sympathetic  ear. 
You  'd  help  the  Negro's  progress  more,  far  more, 
By  bringing  him  to  our  enlightened  shore, 
And  teaching  him  the  way  to  better  things 
Beneath  our  Eagle's  broad,  protecting  wings ! 
But  still  it  would  not  do  to  leave  him  free, 
Even  in  this  fair  land  of  liberty — 


190  PROGRESSION. 

Because  he  would  not  make  a  proper  use 

Of  freedom,  and  't  would  be  to  him  a  curse 

Bather  than  a  blessing.     Then  let  him  be 

A  slave,  if  by  such  wholesome  slavery 

We  free  him  from  a  bondage  worse,  more  dire — 

A  chain  that  shackles  intellect's  pure  fire — 

A  mental  thralldom  in  which  heart  and  soul 

Together  in  the  mire  of  darkness  roll, 

In  savagism's  deep  Egyptian  night, 

Denied  blest  Christianity's  clear  light, 

And  burying  the  seal  by  God  imprest, 

'Neath  monstrous  barbarisms,  foul,  unblest ! 

Think  you  he'll  progress  on  his  native  soil? 

And  is  he  injured  when  we  make  him  toil  ? 

God  ne'er  designed  that  man  should  be  supine — 

He  gives  us  means,  and  we  must  thence  divine 

How  to  exert  them ;  and  when  powers  exist 

In  others,  wrapt  in  barbarism's  mist, 

Do  we  not  act  the  good  Samaritan 

In  freeing  them  from  the  unholy  ban 

That  lays  a  leaden  clog  upon  their  might, 

And  steeps  them  in  the  darkness  of  midnight  ? 

Say,  are  we  not  the  Negro's  truest  friends  ? 

And  are  we  not  the  source,  'neath  God,  which  sends 


THE   SOUTH.  191 

A  dawning  light  thro'  his  benighted  soul, 
To  help  it  gain  the  hights  where  ceaseless  roll 
Hosannas  glorious  and  anthems  grand, 
From  all  who  man's  condition  understand  ? 

Then  bury  animosities,  my  friends ! 
Contest  no  law  which  in  its  bearing  tends 
To  elevato  a  poor,  unhappy  race, 
And  gives  to  them  in  human  grade  their  place. 
"We  all  are  pigmies  in  the  sight  of  Him 
Who  fashioned  us  from  nothing !     If  we  swim 
Time's  ocean  with  the  means  that  He  has  given, 
'T  will  land  us  on  the  blissful  shores  of  heaven ! 
And  while  with  greater  force  we  breast  the  wave, 
'Twill  not  retard  us  if  we  seek  to  save 
Our  weaker  comrades  from  the  billow's  might 
That  threatens  darkness  and  eternal  night. 
If  we  would  hasten  on  that  glorious  time 
Foretold  in  Holy  Writ — when  every  clime 
"  Shall  own  Messiah's  name,'3  shall  be  set  free 
From  savage  bonds  and  all  idolatry — 
We  '11  hesitate  not  to  employ  all  ways 
By  which  this  brightest  ending  of  dark  daya 
May  be  attained.     Be  sure  the  day  will  come 
When  all  will  strive  to  reach  that  better  home ; 


192  -    PROGRESSION. 

That  "  house  not  made  by  hands,  eternal  in 
The  heavens  !"     0  !  what  a  blessed  goal  to  win  ! 
0 !  what  a  glorious  birthright,  there  to  be 
Progressing  still  thro'  all  eternity, 
From  knowledge  unto  wisdom,  and  from  love 
To  adoration,  in  those  courts  above, 
Where  shining  seraphs  vail  their  faces  pure 
While  in  His  presence,  whom  they  rapt  adore ; 
And  winged  aspirations  ceaseless  rise 
To  glories  brightening  in  celestial  skies! 

And  this  is  man's  immortal  destiny. 
0,  fellow  mortals  !  why  not  strive  to  be 
Worthy  its  blessed  privileges  !  and 
Disgrace  not  this  our  own,  our  favored  land, 
That  has  thus  far,  triumphant  led  the  van 
To  better  things — by  arming,  man  to  man, 
To  wrangle  on  a  point  which  ne'er  should  be 
Made  pretext  for  this  civil  anarchy. 
But,  as  a  band  of  brothers,  strive  to  find 
The  RIGHT  with  mildness — bear  this  still  in  mind ; 
And  where  ye  differ  in  opinion,  pray 
Let  Justice  be  the  umpire  in  the  fray ; 
And  meet  on  equal  grounds,  that  each  may  be 
Vested  alike  with  true  authority; 


THE   SOUTH.  193 

Then  for  the  issue — trust  to  God  !     He  '11  hold 
The  crucible  to  test  the  purer  gold, 
And  all  that 's  mingled  with  alloy,  or  base, 
Must  to  the  finer  yield  its  fitting  place  ! 

Then    will   sweet  Peace,    now  frightened  from 

her  nest, 

Descend  again  to  regions  she  loves  best ; 
Then  will  our  Eagle  from  his  eyry  high, 
Gaze  proudly  at  his  rival's  blazing  eye 
That  from  a  higher  hight  lights  all  the  sky, 
And  plume  its  pinions  for  a  greater  flight 
Than  it  e'er  dreamed  of  thro'  the  low'ring  night; 
Then  will  our  Spangled  Banner  proudly  wave 
Above  the  land  where  dwell  the  free  and  brave ; 
Then  will  our  Nation's  great  heart?  free  from  pain, 
Throb  with  contentment's  sacred  pulse  again ; 
And  from  Atlantic's  to  Pacific's  shore, 
From  Mexico's  broad  gulf,  Niagara's  roar, 
The  sounding  anthems  shall  roll  glad  and  free, 
Chanting  the  praise  of  glorious  Liberty, 
To  swell  the  posans  of  the  hosts  who  day 
And  night  rest  not,  but  ever  ceaseless  say, 
"  0 !  holy,  holy,  holy  Lord !"  alway. 
17 


ERE  we  part,  my  kind  readers,  I  beg  you  '11 

permit 
Me  a  few  words  on  leaving : 

You  may  not  see  fit 

To  indorse  all  the  sentiments  I  have  expressed, 
But  my  motive,  you  still  must  acknowledge,  the 

best 

That  could  have  inspired  a  lover  of  peace, 
And  hater  of  falsehood's  base,  spurious  increase, 
That  of  late  years   has   peopled   the   pulpit  and 

press, 

The  forum  and  Senate  with  fatal  excess ; 
And  spread  its  vile  progeny  over  the  face 
Of  our  once  happy  country,  to  sully,  debase, 
And  exterminate  wholesome  and  practical  laws, 
And  crush  our  dear  liberty  in  its  huge  jaws. 

To  you,  the  pure-hearted  and  brave  of  our  land, 
Who  the  rights  of  each  brother  full  well  under 
stand, 
(194) 


VALEDICTORY.  195 

I  need  not  appeal ;  for  the  monitor  blest, 

That  holds  its  own  court  in  each  true  patriot's 

breast, 
Shall   with    eloquence    speak,   and   your   actions 

control, 

In  all  matters  relating  to  body  and  soul ; 
And  raise  warning  finger,  if,  even  in  thought, 
You  'd  seek  to  presume  on  the  privilege  bought 
At  so  countless  a  price,  by  our  forefathers  brave, 
Their  country  to  liberate,  ransom  and  save 
From  the  deep  degradation  of  despotic  rule, 
Whose  precepts  are  grafted  in  tyranny's  school. 
Let  your  hearts  be  the  balance  in  which  you  will 

weigh 

The  matters  that  ask  your  opinion  to-day; 
We  fear  not  the  verdict  such  jurymen  just 
Will  return  in  the  case,  and  our  cause  freely  trust 
To  your  reason,  humanity,  wisdom,  and  skill, 
Which  the  rigid  will  discern  in  spite  of  ill-will, 
With  its  witnesses  bribed  to  distort  the  truth  fair, 
Till   its   bloated   proportions   make   simple    folks 

stare  ! 
Now  our  case,  as  it  stands,  you  have  heard  me 

rehearse  ; 


196  PROGRESSION. 

I  condensed  it  to  suit  the  design  of  my  verse, 
That    you   may   discern    but    its    rights   and   its 

wrongs, 

And  give  that  impartial  return  which  belongs, 
We  know,  to  each  matter  that's  fairly  discussed 
By  equity's  arguments,  honest  and  just. 

I  have  drawn  no  false  pictures  to  work  on  your 

sense, 

And  excite  a  deep  sympathy  by  such  pretense — 
I  leave  that  field  open  to  one  Mistress  S — we, 
Who  's  better  provided  the  journey  to  go. 
As  for  me,  I  'm  not  fitted  to  grope  in  the  dark, 
But  prefer  the  least  glimmer  of  truth's  faintest 

spark, 

To  that  Egyptian  darkness  which  fancy  can  fill 
To  suit  morbid  appetites,  strengthen  ill-will, 
And  work  out  the  ends  of  dictation,  without 
The    least   ray   to    show   the    poor    traveler   the 

route 
Which  his  guide  (who,  bat-like,  sees  a  way  thro' 

the  gloom, 

That  will  place  all  opposers  beneath  a  cold  tomb), 
Is  leading  him  on,  over  quagmire  and  bog 
His  reason  to  deaden,  his  ideas  to  clog, 


VALEDICTORY.  197 

While  breathing  things  monstrous  and  foul  in  his 

ear, 

To  harrow  his  feelings  or  thrill  him  with  fear, 
Till  mystified,  horrified,  not  knowing  why, 
lie  joins  in  the  wild  and  fanatical  cry, 
And  rushes  to  battle  'gainst  all  who  resist 
The    allurements    that    lie    in    romance's    thick 

mist, 

And  prefer  common  sense  and  experience's  tests 
To  the  fallacies  which  this  base  medium  invests 
With  colors  prismatic  to  catch  simple  eyes, 
But  which  the  discerning  detect  as  the  dyes 
Of  falsehood,  that   garbs  with  the  semblance  of 

truth 
The  creatures  of  fiction,  to  cheat  age  and  youth. 

No,  not  by  such  means  do  I  seek  to  impose 
Upon  any ;  the  road  's  alike  open  to  foes 
As   to   friends,  all  its  windings  and  turnings  to 

trace ; 
And  for  traveling  companion,  plain  Truth's  honest 

face, 
At  their  elbow  they  '11  find  thro'  the  whole  of  the 

route, 
To  clear  each  obstruction,  dissolve  every  doubt, 


198  PROGRESSION. 

And  radiate  beams  from  the  Fountain  of  light, 
To  exorcise  demons  begotten  of  fright, 
Who  hold  the  perceptions  of  all  who  give  ear 
To  raving  disturbers  of  harmony's  sphere ! 
01  call  not  that  soul,  true  philanthropy's  seat. 
That  sows  seeds  of  discord  at  each  brother's  feet, 
Where  the  fast- growing  tares  check  each  kindlier 

groivth, 
And  ripen  to  hatred's  rank  blossoms  ivith  both. 

A  word  to  reformers :  Before  you  begin 
To  parade  to  the  public  each  light,  floating  sin 
That  skims  on  the  stream  of  your  neighbor's  warm 

life. 

"Would  it  not  be  as  well  to  allay  every  strife, 
Every   wrong   and   oppression   that    broods    o'er 

your  own 
Household  hearths,  or  stalks  thro'  your  land,  with 

a  tone 

Of  despair,  calling  loudly  for  work  and  for  bread, 
From    free    operatives  ?      As    well,    would    you 

shed 
A   portion  of  light  (where   you  've  so   much  to 

spare), 
To  help  to  relieve  your  own  poor  of  their  care? 


VALEDICTORY.  199 

As  for  us,  thanks  to  God !  want 's  unknown  in  our 

clime, 

Our  workers,  tho'  slaves,  ring  a  merrier  chime, 
On  the  bells  that  pour  forth  the  fleet  progress  of 

Time! 

Your  laborer  is  White,  and  your  equal — yet  he 
Is  a  sufferer  to  a  much  greater  degree 
Than  his  ebony  rival — tho'  this  till  doomsday 
Perhaps  you  '11  contend ;  but   I  've  this  much   to 

say : 

Let  "crises,"  "panics,"  "suspensions,"  invade 
And  break  down  the  barriers  guarding  all  trade ; 
Let  banks  go  to  ruin,  and  stocks  sink  to  naught, 
The  whirlpool,  to  one  class  with  misery  fraught, 
Glides  light  past  the  other  as  singing  brooks  play 
In  the  beams  of  the  sun  on  a  calm  summer's  day ; 
And  while  "  factory  strikes,"  'mong  your  suffering 

poor, 
Tell  too  plainly  the  wolf's  at  each  working  man's 

door; 
Our     careless,    light-hearted,    and    good-natured 

"  Cuff," 
With  his  sleek,  glossy  hide,  shows  he  's  still  got 

enough 


200  PROGRESSION. 

And  to  spare,  should  some  poor  Northern  White 

brother  need 
To  share  his  snug  cabin,  his  garment  and  feed. 

Why  bring  in  the  aid  of  the  novelist's  pen 
To  work  on  the  feelings  of  warm-hearted  men, 
By  dressing  in  pitiful  guise  every  gross 
Misrepresentation  ?     We  're  not  at  a  loss 
For  facts   and  hard  truths,   when  we  enter  your 

door, 

To  substantiate  all  we  assert  of  your  poor ; 
Nor  need  we  the  pallet  of  fancy,  to  paint 
How  near  to  a  sinner  comes  every  saint 
Who  bellows  from  pulpit  invective  and  jeer 
To  stir  up  antipathy  in  each  compeer, 
And  trumpet  contention  abroad  with  that  Word 
That  the  olive  should  tender  instead  of  the  sword. 
For  Religion    should    bind  with   sweet    charity's 

clasp, 

Not  nurse  in  its  flowers  the  sting  of  the  asp; 
But  gently  diffuse  its  etherial  balm, 
Each  discord  to  soften,  each  tempest  to  calm. 
There  may  be  some  cases  (which  all  must  de 
plore), 
Of  cruel  injustice  and  wrong  done  the  poor 


VALEDICTORY.  201 

Negro  slave ;  this  I  've  candor  to  own.     Yet  I  still 

Ask,  are  any  exempt  from  such  ill  ? 

Are  there  none  in   your  midst,   at   this  moment, 

opprest 

By  grinding  exactitude,  heartless,  at  best, 
'Mong  your  Wliite  operatives  ?    Say,  do  they  not 

give 
Their  heart's  blood  for  pittance  which  scarce  lets 

them  live  ? 

Ah,  Pharisees  !  ere  you  the  Publican  spurn, 
Look  at  home  ;  to  your  own  moral  grievances  turn  ; 
Cleanse  the  leprosies  foul  that  within  you  exist, 
Till  no  longer  you  see  thro'  a  'wildering  mist,   ' 
Ere  you  lay  your   cold  hands  where  your  heart 

ought  to  be, 
And  whine  out  your  thanks,  that  you  are  not  as  he. 

Let  charity,  with  you,  begin  in  your  home, 
Fit  subjects  't  will  find,  and  no  longer  need  roam 
On  a  wild,  thankless  mission,  devoid  of  all  grace, 
Which  mistakes  both  the  calling,  the  time,  and  the 

place, 

In  its  useless  endeavors  to  draw  forth  the  mote 
From  its  neighbor's  clear  vision,  which  fails  not 

to  note 


202  PKOGRESSION. 

The  broad  beam  obstructing  the  visual  ray 

Of  the  optics  of  those  who  would   point  out  the 


To  the  better  perceptions  of  others  they  'd  guide, 
And  swamp  friend  and  foe  in  a  treacherous  tide, 
Rising  slowly  and  surely  where'er  it  finds  room, 
To  ingulf  all  the  nation  within  a  cold  tomb. 
Pray,  pray  for  more  light,  from  the  Fountain 

above, 
Till  its  glory  doth  flood  all   your  souls  with  pure 

love, 

Not  only  for  him,  the  Creator  of  all, 
But  for  man,  Ms  creation  upon  this  dun  ball  ! 
For  once  you  but  cherish  a  sympathy  sweet, 
For  each  human  waif  on  Time's  ocean  you  meet, 
And  kindly  admonish  him  when  he  doth  err, 
Yet  love  Mn  thro'  all  things,  let  radiance  or  blur 
On  his  brow  leave  a  mark  for  distinction  or  shame  — 
Still,  but  cherish  for  him  an  undying  flame 
Of  holy  forbearance  to  guide  thro'  all  gloom, 
Arid  from  error's  waste  lead  to  the  brightness  and 

bloom 

Of  truth  and  of  purity,  you  will  achieve 
A  power,  for  which  you  '11  have  no  cause  to  grieve  ; 


VALEDICTORY.  203 

A  power  of  persuasion,  the  mild  and  the  true, 
That  will  gently,  yet  surely,  prevail  where  the  crew 
Of  force,  domineering,  can  never  gain  ground, 
Tho'  policy  girt  it  with  piety  round. 
An  enemy  may  be  by  kindness  o'ercome, 
And  soft  words  will  make  the  wrathful  man  dumb. 
You  should  not  abuse  theological  power, 
By  pointing  its  shafts  at  your  neighbor's  home- 
bower, 

And  poisoning  the  darts  in  dark  sophistry's  pool, 
Thus  making  religion  a  puppet  and  tool, 
Thro'  whose  channel  your  venomed  ill-nature  may 

flow 
'Gainst  all  who  but  differ  from  you  here  below. 

The  pulpit,  the  Holy  of  Holies  should  be ! 
There,  questions  political,  all  anarchy, 
Should  be  banished — its  calling's  more  sacred,  by 

far, 

Than  leading  a  caucus  or  waging  a  war ; 
'T  is  God's  throne  on  earth!  (or  rather,  should  be, 
But  man  has  polluted  the  pure  sanctuary) ; 
And  should  not  be   defiled  by   such   streams   as 

to-day 
In  muddy  disturbances  take  their  dark  way 


204  PROGRESSION. 

From  this  fountain,  thus  basely  turned  out  of  its 

course, 
To    babble   with  bigots    who   scream    themselves 

hoarse 
While   fiercely  contending  'gainst    nature's  pure 

laws, 
To  uphold  an  ill-grounded,  fanatical  cause  ! 

I  would  say  to  ye  all,  ye  Reformers  so  bold, 
Who  enter,  unasked,  our  Southern  stronghold — 
Should  ye  need  a  new  field  for  a  famous  display 
Of  rhetorical  powers  and  windy  array, 
Turn   your    weapons,    so   logical,    on    your    own 

band 

Of  clerical  wranglers — for  all  understand 
That  they  need  reforming  the  most  in  our  land  ! 
They  seem  to  forget  that  their  mission  is  "  peace !" 
And,  lion-like,  roar  from  their  soft  waving  fleece 
Till  one  is  in  doubt  whether  sheep-cot,  or  lair, 
Is  appropriate  term  for  God's  temple  fair! 

And  now  to  my  friends,  and  the  rest  of  mankind, 
I  have   something  to  say.     We  have,  all  of  us, 

shrined 
In   our  heart's  secret  chamber,   some  idol — tho' 

blind 


VALEDICTORY.  205 

"We  may  be  to  the  knowledge,  yet  others  can  see 
What  to  us  is  obscui*e  to  the  latest  degree; 
With  one,  'tis  ambition — another,  'tis  love — 
And  a  third  worships  Mammon,  all  creatures  above; 
While  some,  purer  hearted,  (alas !  they  are  few !) 
Throne  Truth  there,  with  radiance   to  shine  out 

anew 

O'er  each  fallacy  bred  in  dark  Error's  abode, 
To  obstruct  and  obscure  every  newly-laid  road 
That  invites  earthly  tourist  to  take  shorter  route 
When  seeking  some  knotty  point's  flaws  to  find  out. 
Then  again,  other  hearts  cling  to  Error,  and  hug 
Her  delusions,  not  knowing  how  vainly  they  tug 
At  a  chain  that  coils  firmer  the  harder  they  pull, 
And  binds  their  perceptions  with  leaden  clog  dull. 
And  still,  other  deities,  other  hearts  own 
Unconsciously — yet,  by  their  fruits  they  are  known ; 
And  so  I  appeal  to  your  reason  and  sense 
To  judge  between  truth  and  fallacious  pretense. 
My  motive  I  feel  to  be  honest  and  true, 
In  submitting  these  arguments  freely  to  you ; 
And  if  I  have  blindly  advanced  a  false  cause 
'T  will  quickly  be  seen,  when,  with  Nature's  known 

laws 


206  PROGRESSION. 

'Tis  compared.     All  I  ask,  is  impartial  survey 
Of  both  sides  of  this  mighty  question  to-day — 
Give  each  a  fair  hearing,  and  when  you  do  this 
Be  sure  you  're  not  swayed  by  the  sheer  fallacies 
Set  forth  by  the  novelist  but  to  confound 
Your  reason,  and  lead  you  o'er  treacherous  ground; 
But  lay  aside  romance  and  take  solid  fact, 
If  you  would  arrive  at  conclusion  exact ; 
Nor  weep  over  Fiction's  all-fanciful  wrongs, 
But  give  your  sweet  sympathy  where  it  belongs, 
When  actual  experience  proves  to  your  mind 
That    sufferings    and    wrongs    exist   'mong  your 

kind. 
In  this  age  of  free  thought  we  have,  each  one, 

a  right 

To  investigate  aught  that  seems  dim  to  our  sight ; 
And  when  we  've  arrived  at  conclusions,  we  still 
Can    express   them,  I  hope,  without  rousing  ill- 
will. 

I  've  simply  expressed  what  I  think  to  be  true, 
And  if  in  opinion  I  differ  from  you, 
We  do  but  what  mortals  will  everywhere  do, 
For  few  think  alike  on  all  points — yet  on  this 
I  would  ask  you  to  pause  before  you  dismiss 


VALEDICTORY.  207 

The  matter  entirely — give  it  a  thought — 

'Tis    by    ildnlcing   most    wonderful    changes   are 

wrought ! 

For  Thought  is  the  mine  from  which  was  exterred 
All  the  wonders  that  nations  entranced  have  heard ; 
In  its  depths  the  great  giant  was  molded  to  form 
When  he  rose  in  a  vaporous  moisture  so  warm 
From  his  kettle-bed,  which  the  boy  dreamily  eyed 
As  the  slight  curling  breath  pushed  the  thick  lid 

aside, 

And  saw  in  the  action  a  slumbering  power, 
That  works  mighty  levers  at  this  present  hour ! 
'T  was  from  Thought's  deep  recesses  that  Franklin 

brought  forth 

The  bright  spark  electric,  whose  magical  worth 
The  world  now  attests,  as  it  girdles  the  North, 
Spans  the  soft  breezy  South,  clasps  the  East  and 

the  West, 

And  draws  nations  nearer  in  unity  blest ! 
For,   from  Heaven  the  spark  came  to  circle  the 

Earth, 

And  herald  a  new  and  a  glorious  birth 
In  the  fair  field  of  Progress,  to  show  forth  to  man 
How  much  he  may  grasp  with  an  up-reaching  span 


208  PROGRESSION. 

That  not  vainly  aspires,  if  a  pure  motive  gives 
The  impetus ! 

So,  then,  fare  ye  well !     If  there  lives 
But  a  spark  of  true  patriotism  still  in  our  land, 
I  fear  not  the  Union  will  yet  firmly  stand, 
The  bulwark  of  Liberty !  which  the  harsh  gale 
Of  partisan  violence,  tho'  it  assail, 
May  storm  round  in  vain  —  for  its  true  heart  of 

oak 

Will  resist  to  the  last  the  dastardly  stroke, 
And  ride  out  the  tempest  with  sails  all  unrivcn, 
And  furl  but  its  flag  on  the   bright   shores   of 

Heaven ! 


18 


PROGRESSION. — In  taking  the  Xebular  Hypothesis  as  my 
argument  for  creation,  I  but  agree  with  many  learned 
•writers  and  astronomers.  But  my  attention  was  chiefly 
called  to  the  subject  of  Progression,  by  a  perusal  of  a  little 
volume  entitled,  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History  of  Crea 
tion,  by Man  tell.  1  have  endeavored  (as  far  as  in  me 

lies  the  power)  to  carry  out  the  ideas  of  the  author  of  that 
work — for  I  most  religiously  believe  them  to  be  correct — 
and  cordially  recommend  the  perusal  of  that  book  to  every 
one  desirous  of  an  intellectual  feast  There  is  certainly 
no  work,  of  the  same  number  of  pages,  that  contains  the 
same  amount  of  information.  It  is  a  clear  embodiment  of 
the  Multum  in  Parvo,  so  desirable  in  all  writings. 

As  far  as  the  slavery  question  is  concerned,  I  have 
acted  for  "conscience  sake" — and  think,  while  so  doing,  1 
but  echo  the  sentiments  of  all  calm  reasoners  and  lovers 
of  truth,  Xorth,  South,  East,  or  West. 

Page  17. 

The  miyhty   Word  which  teas 

In  the  beginning. 

(211) 


212  PROGRESSION. 

"  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God." — St.  John  i :  1. 

Page  19. 
0 !  wondrous  sight,  a  universe  all  fire ! 

"The  nebulous  matter  of  space,  previous  to  the  forma 
tion  of  stellar  and  planetary  bodies,  must  have  been  a  uni 
versal  Fire  Mist;  an  idea  which  we  can  scarcely  comprehend, 
though  the  reasons  for  arriving  at  it  seem  irresistible."— 
Vestiges  of  Creation,  p.  20. 

Page  21. 
And  still  another  law  have  we  to  show. 

"  Xow,  mechanical  philosophy  informs  us  that  the  instant 
a  mass  begins  to  rotate,  there  is  generated  a  tendency  to  fling 
off  its  outer  portions.  In  other  words,  the  law  of  centrifugal 
force  begins  to  operate.  There  are,  then,  two  forces  acting 
in  opposition  to  each  other,  the  one  attracting  to,  the  other 
throwing  from  the  center.  While  these  remain  exactly 
counterpoised,  the  mass  necessarily  continues  entire;  but 
the  least  excess  of  the  centrifugal  over  the  attractive  force 
would  be  attended  with  the  effect  of  separating  the  mass  and 
its  outer  parts.  These  outer  parts  would  then  be  left  as  a 
ring  round  the  central  body,  which  ring  would  continue  to 
revolve  with  the  velocity  possessed  by  the  central  mass  at 
the  moment  of  separation,  but  not  necessarily  participating 
in  any  changes  afterwards  undergone  by  that  body.  This 
is  a  process  which  might  be  repeated  as  soon  as  a  new 


NOTES.  213 

excess  arose  in  the  centrifugal  over  the  attractive  forces 
•working  in  the  parent  mass.  It  might,  indeed,  continue 
to  be  repeated,  until  the  mass  attained  the  ultimate  limits 
of  the  condensation  -which  its  constitution  imposed  upon 
it.  From  what  cause  might  arise  the  periodical  occurrence 
of  an  excess  of  the  centrifugal  force  ?  If  we  suppose  the 
agglomeration  of  a  nebulous  mass  to  be  a  process  attended 
by  refrigeration  or  cooling,  which  many  facts  render  likely, 
we  can  easily  understand  why  the  outer  parts,  hardening 
under  this  process,  might,  by  virtue  of  the  greater  solidity 
thence  acquired,  begin  to  present  some  resistance  to  the 
attractive  force.  As  the  solidification  proceeded,  this  re 
sistance  would  become  greater,  though  there  would  still  bo 
a  tendency  to  adhere.  Meanwhile,  the  condensation  of  the 
central  mass  would  be  going  on,  tending  to  produce  a  sep 
aration  from  what  may  now  be  termed  the  solidifying 
crust.  During  the  contention  between  the  attractions  of 
these  two  bodies,  or  parts  of  one  body,  there  would  proba 
bly  be  a  ring  of  attenuation  between  the  mass  and  its  crust. 
At  length,  when  the  central  mass  had  reached  a  certain 
stage  in  its  advance  toward  solidification,  a  separation 
would  take  place,  and  the  crust  would  become  a  detached 
ring.  It  is  clear,  of  course,  that  some  law,  presiding  over 
the  refrigeration  of  heated  gaseous  bodies,  would  determine 
the  stages  at  which  rings  were  thus  formed  and  detached. 
We  do  not  know  any  such  law,  but  what  we  have  seen  as 
sures  us  it  is  one  observing,  and  reducible  to,  mathematical 
formula. 


214  PROGRESSION. 

"  If  these  rings  consisted  of  matter  nearly  uniform 
throughout,  they  would  probably  continue  each  in  its 
original  form ;  but  there  are  many  chances  against  their 
being  uniform  in  constitution.  The  unavoidable  effect  of 
irregularity  in  their  constitution,  would  be  to  cause  them 
to  gather  toward  centers  of  superior  solidity,  by  which  the 
annular  form  would,  of  course,  be  destroyed.  The  ring 
would,  in  short,  break  into  several  masses,  the  largest  of 
which  would  be  likely  to  attract  the  lesser  into  itself.  The 
whole  mass  would  then  necessarily  settle  into  a  spherical 
form,  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  gravitation  ;  in  short,  would 
then  become  a  planet  revolving  round  the  sun.  Its  rotary 
motion  would,  of  course,  continue,  and  satellites  might 
then  be  thrown  off  in  turn,  from  its  body,  in  exactly  the 
same  way  as  the  primary  planets  had  been  thrown  off  from 
the  sun.  The  rule,  if  I  can  be  allowed  so  to  call  it,  re 
ceives  a  striking  support  from  what  appears  to  be  its  ex 
ceptions.  While  there  are  many  chances  against  the 
matter  of  the  rings  being  sufficiently  equable  to  remain 
in  the  annular  form  till  they  were  consolidated,  it  might 
nevertheless  be  otherwise  in  some  instances :  that  is  to 
say,  the  equableness  might,  in  those  instances,  be  suffi 
ciently  great.  Such  was  probably  the  case  with  the  two 
rings  around  the  body  of  Saturn,  which  remain  a  living 
picture  of  the  arrangement,  if  not  the  condition,  in  which 
all  the  planetary  masses  at  one  time  stood.  It  may  also 
be  admitted  that,  when  a  ring  broke  up,  it  was  possible  that 
the  fragments  might  spherify  separately.  Such  seems  to  be 


NOTES.  215 

the  actual  history  of  the  ring  between  Jupiter  and  Mars, 
in  whose  place  we  now  find  four*  planets,  much  b  ?noath 
the  smallest  of  the  rest  in  size,  and  moving  nearly  it  the 
same  distance  from  the  sun,  though  in  orbits  so  elliptical, 
and  of  such  different  planes,  that  they  keep  apart."—  Ves 
tiges  of  Creation,  p.  11. 

Page  22. 

The  samepoicer  by  which  apples  fall. 

The  law  of  gravitation. 

Page  23. 

For,  once,  a  circling  mass  of  liquid  fire, 
Our  sun  filled  all  our  system  s  space,  entire. 

"  I  may  here,  also,  remind  the  reader  that  there  are  other 
grounds  for  this  hypothesis,  besides  observations  on  the 
nebulae.  Overlooking  the  zodiacal  light,  which  has  been 
thought  a  residuum  of  the  nebulous  fluid  of  our  system, 
we  find  geology  taking  us  back  toward  a  state  of  our 
globe  which  can  not  otherwise  be  explained.  It  was 
clearly,  at  one  time,  in  a  state  of  igneous  fluidity — the 
state  in  which  its  oblately  spheroidal  form  was  assumed 
under  the  law  of  centrifugal  force.  Since  then  it  has 
cooled,  at  least  in  the  exterior  crust.  We  thus  have  it 
passing  through  a  chemical  process,  attended  by  dimin- 

*  Modern  research  has  discovered  over. fifty  small  planets  in  this  space. 


216  PROGRESSION. 

ishing  heat.  Whence  the  heat  at  first,  if  not  from  tho 
causes  indicated  in  the  nebular  hypothesis  ?  But  this 
is  not  all.  In  looking  back  along  the  steps  of  such  a  pro 
cess,  we  have  no  limit  imposed.  There  is  nothing  to  call 
for  our  stopping,  till  we  reach  one  of  those  extreme  tem 
peratures  which  would  vaporize  the  solid  materials;  and 
this  gives  us  exactly  that  condition  of  things  which  is 
implied  by  the  nebular  cosmogony." —  Vestiges  of  Creation, 
p.  209. 

Page  39. 

Where  earth's  diameter  exceeds,  'tis  knoicn, 
Its  polar  depth,  and  proves  our  planet' s  form 
To  be  an  oblate  spheroid. 

"Although  it  appears,  from  the  preceding  facts,  that 
the  earth  is  spherical,  yet  it  is  not  a  perfect  sphere.  If 
it  were,  the  length  of  the  degrees  of  latitude,  from  the 
equator  to  the  poles,  would  be  uniformly  the  same ;  but 
it  has  been  found,  by  the  most  careful  measurement,  that 
as  we  go  from  the  equator  toward  the  poles,  the  length 
increases  with  the  latitude. 

"  These  measurements  have  been  made  by  the  most 
eminent  mathematicians  of  different  countries,  and  in 
various  places,  from  the  equator  to  the  urctic  circle. 
They  have  found  that  a  degree  of  latitude  at  the  arctic 
circle  was  nine-sixteenths  of  a  mile  longer  than  a  degree 
at  the  equator,  and  that  the  ratio  of  increase  for  the  inter- 


NOTES.  217 

mediate  degrees  was  nearly  as  the  sines  of  the  latitude. 
Thus  the  theory  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  confirmed,  that 
the  body  of  the  earth  was  more  rounded  and  convex  be 
tween  the  tropics, "but  considerably  flattened  at  the  poles." 
Geography  of  the  Heavens  and  Class-Book  of  Astronomy, 
by  Elijah  II.  Burrilt. 

Page  39. 

A  residuum 

Of  that  great  heat  which  kept  vaporiform 
All  matter  in  times  past. 

See  Baron  Fourier's  TMorie  Analylique  de  la  Chaleur. 
1S22. 

Page  41. 

For  where  the  cup 

Of  mighty  seas  sunk  deep  within  her  breast 
(Deeper  than  those  which  now  within  it  rest), 
Granitic  mountains  reared  their  scraggy  heads. 

"Geology  tells  us  as  plainly  as  possible,  that  the  original 
crystalline  mass  was  not  a  perfectly  smooth  ball,  with  air 
and  water  playing  round  it.  There  were  vast  irregularities 
in  the  surface — irregularities  trifling,  perhaps,  compared 
with  the  whole  bulk  of  the  globe,  but  assuredly  vast  in 
comparison  with  any  which  now  exist  upon  it.  These 
irregularities  might  be  occasioned  by  inequalities  in  the 
cooling  of  the  substance,  or  by  accidental  and  local  slug- 

19 


218  PROGRESSION. 

gishncss  of  the  materials,  or  by  local  effects  of  the  con 
centrated  internal  heat.  From  whatever  cause  they  arose, 
there  they  were,  enormous  granitic  mountains,  interspersed 
with  seas  which  sunk  to  a  depth  equally  profound,  and 
by  which,  perhaps,  the  mountains  were  wholly  or  partially 
covered.  »  *  *  * 

There  is  the  clearest  evidence  that  the  seas  of  those  days 
were  not,  in  some  instances,  less  than  a  hundred  miles  in 
depth,  however  much  more.  The  subaqueous  mountains 
must  necessarily  have  been  of  at  least  equal  magnitude." — 
Vestiges  of  Creation,  p.  29. 

Page  43. 

And  what  this  substance?     Carbon — known  to  be 
Of  herb  and  plant  the  main  commodity. 

"  Limestone  is  a  carbonate  of  lime,  a  secondary  com 
pound,  of  which  one  of  the  ingredients,  carbonic  acid  gas, 
presents  the  element  carbon,  a  perfect  novelty  in  our  pro 
gress.  Whence  this  substance?  The  question  is  the  more 
interesting,  from  our  knowing  that  carbon  is  the  main 
ingredient  in  organic  things.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  its  primeval  condition  was  that  of  a  gas,  confined  in 
the  interior  of  the  earth,  and  diffused  in  the  atmosphere. 
The  atmosphere  still  contains  about  a  two-thousandth  part 
of  carbonic  acid  gas,  forming  the  grand  store  from  which 
the  substance  of  each  year's  crop  of  herbage  and  grain  is 
derived,  passing  from  herbage  and  grain  into  animal 
substance,  and  from  animals  again  rendered  back  to  the 


NOTES.  219 

atmosphere  in  their  expired  breath,  so  that  its  amount  is 
never  impaired.  Knowing  this,  when  wo  hear  of  carbon 
beginning  to  appear  in  the  ascending  series  of  rocks,  we 
are  unavoidably  led  to  consider  it  as  marking  a  time  of 
some  importance  in  the  earth's  history,  a  new  era  of 
natural  conditions,  one  in  which  organic  life  has  probably 
played  a  part." — Vestiges  of  Creation,  p.  31. 

Page  46. 
Geology  doth  show 


Hundreds  of  species  in  this  strata  low. 

"  Upward  of  three  hundred  species  of  plants  have  been 
ascertained  to  exist  in  the  coal  formation;  but  it  is  not 
necessary  to  suppose  that  the  whole  contained  in  that 
system  are  now,  or  will  be,  distinguished.  *  *  *  * 
Coal  strata  are  nearly  confined  to  the  group  termed  the 
carboniferous  formation.  Thin  beds  are  not  unknown 
afterward,  but  they  occur  only  as  a  rare  exception.  It  is 
therefore  thought  that  the  most  important  of  the  conditions 
which  allowed  of  so  abundant  a  terrestial  vegetation,  had 
ceased  about  the  time  when  this  formation  was  closed." — 
Vestiges  of  Creation,  pp.  45,  49. 

Page  47. 

Behold  !  the  forms  to  which  was  given  birth 
Spontaneous — in  creatures  made  to  be 
Dwellers  alike  of  either  land  or  sea  .' 

"  These  animals  are  of  the  vertebrate  sub-kingdom,  but 


220  PROGKESSION. 

of  its  lowest  class  next  after  fishes — namely:  reptiles — a 
portion  of  the  terrestial  tribes,  whose  imperfect  respiratory 
system,  perhaps,  fitted  them  for  enduring  an  atmosphere 
not  yet  quite  suitable  for  birds  or  mammifers.  The  spe 
cimens  found  in  the  muschelkalk  are  allied  to  the  croco 
dile  and  lizard  tribes  of  the  present  day ;  but,  in  the  latter 
instance,  are  upon  a  scale  of  magnitude  as  much  superior 
to  present  forms,  as  the  lepidodendron  of  the  coal  era  was 
superior  to  the  dwarf  club-mosses  of  our  time.  These 
saurians  also  combine  some  peculiarities  of  a  most  extra 
ordinary  character. 

"  The  animal  to  which  the  name  ichthyosaurus  has 
been  given,  was  as  long  as  a  young  whale,  and  it  was 
fitted  for  living  in  the  water,  though  breathing  the  atmos 
phere.  It  had  the  vertebral  column  and  general  bodily 
form  of  a  fish,  but  to  that  were  added  the  head  and  breast 
bone  of  a  lizard,  and  the  paddles  of  the  whale  tribes. 
The  beak,  moreover,  was  that  of  a  porpoise,  and  the  teeth 
were  those  of  a  crocodile.  It  must  have  been  a  most 
destructive  creature  to  the  fish  of  those  early  seas. 

"  The  plcsiosaurus  was  of  similar  bulk,  with  a  turtle- 
like  body  and  paddles,  showing  that  the  sea  was  its  cle 
ment  ;  but  with  a  long,  serpent-like  neck,  terminating  in 
a  saurian  head,  calculated,  to  reach  prey  at  a  considerable 
distance.  These  two  animals,  of  which  many  varieties 
have  been  discovered,  constituting  distinct  species,  are 
supposed  to  have  lived  in  the  shallow  borders  of  the  seas 
of  this  and  subsequent  formations,  devouring  immense 


NOTES.  221 

quantities  of  the  finny  tribes.  It  was  at  first  thought 
that  no  creatures  approaching  them  in  character  now 
inhabit  the  earth;  but,  latterly,  Mr.  Darwin  has  discovered, 
in  the  reptile-peopled  Gallapagos  Islands,  in  the  South 
Sea,  a  marine  saurian,  from  three  to  four  feet  long. 

"  The  meyalosaurus  was  an  enormous  lizard — a  land 
creature,  also  carnivorous.  The  pterodaclyle  was  another 
lizard,  but  furnished  with  wings  to  pursue  its  prey  in  the 
air,  and  varying  in  size  between  a  cormorant  and  a  snipe. 
Crocodiles  abounded,  and  some  of  these  were  herbivorous. 
Such  was  the  iguanodon,  a  creature  of  the  character  of 
the  iguana  of  the  Ganges,  but  reaching  a  hundred  feet  in 
length,  or  twenty  times  that  of  its  modern  representative. 

"  There  were  also  numerous  tortoises,  some  of  them 
reaching  a  great  size  ;  and  Professor  Owen  has  found  in 
Warwickshire  some  remains  of  an  animal  of  thebatrachian 
order  (the  order  to  which  frogs  and  toads  belong),  to  which, 
from  the  peculiar  form  of  the  teeth,  he  has  give  the  name 
of  labyrinthidon.  Thus,  three  of  Cuvier's  four  orders  of 
reptilia  (sauria,  chelonia,  and  batrachia)  are  represented 
in  this  formation,  the  serpent  order  (ophidia)  being  alone 
wanting." — Vestiges  of  Creation,  p.  52. 

Page  49. 

Thus,  link  by  link,  to  Jill 

The,  gap  between  the  earliest  formed  and  man. 

"  Such  is  the  outline  of  the  fauna  of  the  tertiary  era, 
as  ascertained  by  the  illustrious  naturalists  who  first 


222 


PROGRESSION. 


devoted  their  attention  to  it.  It  will  be  observed,  that  it 
brings  us  up  to  the  felinas,  or  carnivora,  a  considerably 
elevated  point  in  the  animal  scale,  but  still  leaving  a  blank 
for  the  quadrumana  (monkeys)  and  for  man,  who  collec 
tively  form,  as  will  afterward  be  seen,  the  first  group  in 
that  scale." — Vestiges  of  Creation,  p.  69. 

Page  67. 

The  physiologist  observes,  each  animal 
Progresses  still,  while  in  the  germinal, 
Thro'  changes,  all  resembling  the  forms 
Of  lower  orders  in  the  scale. 

See  the  Scale  of  Xature,  in  Fletcher's  Rudiments  of 
Physiology. 

Page  96. 
Once  spake  that  country's  savior  next  to  God. 

"And  let  me  conjure  you,  in  the  name  of  our  common 
country,  as  you  value  your  own  sacred  honor,  as  you  re 
spect  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  as  you  regard  the  mili 
tary  and  national  character  of  America,  to  express  your 
utmost  horror  and  detestation  of  the  man  who  wishes, 
under  any  specious  pretenses,  to  overturn  the  liberties  of 
our  country  ;  and  who  wickedly  attempts  to  open  the  flood 
gates  of  civil  discord,  and  deluge  our  rising  empire  in 
blood." — Washington's  speech  to  his  officers,  on  the  occa 
sion  of  the  "Newburgh  addresses." 


NOTES.  223 

Page  106. 

That  slavery  was  authorized  by  law 
Among  the  Israelites,  etc. 

"  The  Hebrews  had  several  kinds  of  servants.  Some 
were  mere  slaves  for  life,  and  wore  sold  and  disposed  of 
by  their  masters  as  they  thought  fit:  such  were  the 
strangers  bought  or  taken  in  war. — Lev.  xxv:  44,  etc. 
Such  are  also  called  bodies,  because  their  masters'  rigor 
reaches  only  to  their  body. — Rev.  xviii:  13.  Hebrew 
slaves  or  bond-servants,  who  could  only  at  first  be  bound 
six  years,  and  at  the  end  thereof  were  to  be  dismissed, 
with  presents  from  their  masters ;  but  their  children, 
born  during  their  servitude,  continued  to  be  their  master's 
property  :  but  if  they  declined  to  go  free,  their  master, 
with  an  awl,  bored  their  ear  to  the  door-post,  as  a  token 
they  could  not  afterward  have  their  freedom,  at  least  till 
the  year  of  jubilee.  If  a  master  struck  a  bond-servant 
till  he  died,  he  was  only  punished,  not  condemned  to 
death.  If  an  ox  gored  to  death  a  bond-servant,  the  owner 
paid  thirty  shekels  of  silver  as  his  price,  and  the  ox  was 
stoned.  If  a  master  struck  out  the  eye  of  his  slave,  he 
was  to  give  him  his  liberty  as  a  compensation. — Ex.  xxi  : 
1,  11,  20,  26,  27:  Deut.  xxv:  1,  18."— From  Brown's  Dic 
tionary  of  the  Bible. 

Page  134. 

I  would  exclaim,  as  did  a  noble  one 
Of  Nature  s  freemen. 


224  PROGRESSION. 

In  John  Mitchel's  reply  to  the  Joint  Committee  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  Louisiana,  inviting 
him  to  the  seat  of  Government,  he  says :  "  You  will  not 
condemn  nor  wonder  at  the  zeal  of  a  stranger  and  a  refugee 
for  that  Union.  In  my  case,  it  is  not  unnatural.  To  me, 
from  my  childhood,  the  United  States  has  been  a  sacred 
unity — one  and  indivisible — the  couipletest,  grandest 
achievement  and  monument  of  wit  and  courage  of  man 
in  modern  times.  The  admiration  became  a  passion ;  and 
the  passion  led  me  far,  and  cost  me  dear;  but  the  dearer 
it  cost  me,  the  more  jealously  and  proudly  I  cherish  now 
my  old  faith  and  hope ;  now,  when  the  banner  I  gazed  on 
so  long  from  hopeless  distance,  with  '  the  desire  of  the 
moth  for  the  star,'  gleams  and  waves  above  me  at  last. 
May  the  colors  of  God's  bow  be  torn  asunder  ere  the 
stripes  of  that  majestic  banner." 

Page  161. 

And  even  the  poor  Indians  now  own 
This  to  be  true. 

Most  of  the  newspapers  of  the  day  have  given  us  ac 
counts  of  the  interview  between  the  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  delegations  of  the  Pawnee,  Ponca, 
and  Pottawatomie  tribes  of  Indians,  on  business  connected 
with  the  Government.  I  would  like  to  transcribe  in  full 
the  speech  of  each  "Chief"  to  his  "Grandfather,"  to  show 
how  completely  these  poor  forest  children  have  come  to  a 


NOTES.  225 

knowledge  of  their  insignificance,  and  dependence  on  a 
more  favored  race,  but  condensation  forbids  it,  so  I  will 
content  myself  with  a  few  extracts. 

One  said,  "  My  Grandfather,  you  see  me  to-day,  I  am 
poor.  *  *  *  *  I  tli ink  this  is  a  splendid  man 
sion.  I  think  you  are  like  the  Great  Spirit.  Everything 
the  white  man  makes  is  wonderful  to  us.  When  I  see 
you,  and  see  all  these  curiosities,  I  feel  as  if  I  am  not 
poor. 

Another — "I  come  here  to-day  and  look  about  and  see 
your  splendid  mansion,  and  it  surprises  me;  but  still  I 
know  a  ivliite  man  can  do  anything  and  make  anything, 
and  I  hope  we  shall  be  put  in  the  way  to  do  these  things, 
and  not  be  poor.  We  have  been  a  long  way  to  see  you, 
and  a  long  time  coming  here,  and,  now  that  we  have  seen 
you,  it  looks  as  if  the  Great  Spirit  is  smiling  upon  us" 
(alluding  to  the  sunshine  and  clear  sky). 

But  Wae-gah-sah-pi,  or  "The  Whip,"  a  chief  of  the 
Ponca  tribe,  embodied  more  truth  in  a  part  of  his  address, 
than  many  a  more  logical  white  brother  might  bo  capable 
of  doing.  "My  Grandfather,"  he  spake,  "I  call  you 
Grandfather  for  no  other  reason  than  this  :  God  made  me 
one  color,  and  you  of  another;  but  God  was  partial  to 
you,  and  made  you  of  a  better  color.  You  came  into  ex 
istence  and  so  did  I.  It  was  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit 
that  we  both  came  into  existence.  * 
It  was  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit  that  made  you  more 
powerful  than  me ;  it  was  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit  that 


226  PROGRESSION. 

you  should  take  this  land  from  us — this  land  that  you 
stand  on  to-day  belongs  to  me.  You  are  a  man,  my 
Grandfather,  and  so  am  I.  Everything  that  you  have 
made,  Grandfather,  is  worthy  of  attention — is  worthy  of 
looking  at" 


T  II  E    END. 


-aPPLEGATE  &  COMPANY, 


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1  vol.,  quarto,  spring  back,  marble  edge. 


From  the  Masonic  Review. 

This  great  standard  history  of  the  Church  from  the  birth  of 
Christ,  has  just  been  issued  in  a  new  dress  by  the  extensive  pub 
lishing  house  of  Applegate  <fe  Co.  Nothing  need  be  said  by  us 
in  relation  to  the  merits  or  reliability  of  Mosheim's  History  :  it 
has  long  borne  the  approving  seal  of  the  Protestant  world.  It 
has  become  a  standard  work,  and  no  public  or  private  library  is 
complete  without  it ;  nor  can  an  individual  be  well  posted  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  Church  for  eighteen  hundred  years, 
without  having  carefully  studied  Monlieim.  We  wish,  however, 
particularly  to  recommend  the  present  edition.  The  pages  are 
in  lai-ge  double  columns  ;  the  type  is  large  and  very  distinct,  and 
the  printing  is  admirable,  on  tine  white  paper.  It  is  really  a 
pleasure  to  read  such  print,  and  we  recommend  our  friends  to 
purchase  this  edition  of  this  indispensable  work. 


From  the  Telescope,  Dayton,  O. 

This  work  has  been  placed  upon  our  table  by  the  gentlemanly 
and  enterprising  publishers,  and  we  are  glad  of  an  opportunity 
to  introduce  so  beautiful  an  edition  of  this  standard  Church  his 
tory  to  our  readers.  The  work  is  printed  on  beautiful  white 
paper,  clear  large  type,  and  is  bound  in  one  handsome  volume. 
No  man  ever  sat  down  to  read  Mosheim  in  so  pleasing  a  dress. 
What  a  treat  is  such  an  edition  to  one  who  has  been  studying 
this  elegant  work  in  small  close  print  of  other  editions. 


From  Professor  \Yrirjhtson. 

Whatever  book  has  a  tendency  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of 
God,  or  the  character  or  conduct  of  his  true  worshipers,  or  that 
points  cut  the  errors  and  mistakes  of  former  generations,  must 
have  an  elevating,  expanding,  and  purifying  influence  on  the 
human  mind.  Su<-h  a  work  is  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History. 
Like  "  Rollin's  History  of  the  Ancients,"  it  is  the  standard,  and 
is  too  well  known  to  need  a  word  of  comment. 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

GATHERED  TREASURES  PROM  THE  MINES  OF 
LITERATURE. 

Containing  Tales,  Sketches,  Anecdotes,  and  Gems  of  Thought, 
Literary,  Moral,  Pleasing  and  Instructive.  Illustrated  with 
steel  plates.  1  vol.  octavo.  Embossed. 

To  furnish  a  volume  of  miscellaneous  literature  both  pleasing 
and  instructive,  has  been  the  object  of  the  editor  in  compiling 
this  work,  as  well  to  supply,  to  some  extent,  at  least,  the  place 
that  is  now  occupied  by  publications  which  few  will  deny  are  of 
a  questionable  moral  tendency. 

It  has  been  the  intention  to  make  this  volume  a  suitable  travel 
ing  and  fireside  companion,  profitably  engaging  the  leisure  mo 
ments  of  the  former,  and  adding  an  additional  charm  to  the 
cheerful  glow  of  the  latter  ;  to  blend  amusement  with  instruc 
tion,  pleasure  with  profit,  and  to  present  an  extensive  garden  of 
vigorous  and  useful  plants,  and  beautiful  and  fragrant  flowi-rs, 
among  which,  perchance,  there  may  be  a  few  of  inferior  worth, 
though  none  of  utter  inutility.  While  it  is  not  exclusively  a  re 
ligious  work,  yet  it  contains  no  article  that  may  not  be  read  by 
the  most  devoted  Christian. 


From  the  Cincinnati  Daily  Times. 

This  is  certainly  a  book  of  rare  merit,  and  well  calculated  for 
a  rapid  and  general  circulation.  Its  contents  present  an  ext<  u 
sive  variety  of  subjects,  and  these  not  only  carefully  but  judi 
ciously  selected,  and  arranged  in  appropriate  departments.  l:s 
contents  have  been  highly  spoken  of  by  men  of  distinguished 
literary  acumen,  both  editors  and  ministers  of  varioua  Christina 
denominations.  We  cheerfully  recommend  it. 


GATHERED  TREASURES  FROM  THE  MINES  OF  LITERATURE. — "One 
of  the  most  interesting  everyday  books  ever  published.  Like  the 
Spectator,  it  may  be  perused  again  and  again,  and  yet  afford 
something  to  interest  and  amuse  the  reader.  Its  varied  and  choice 
selections  of  whatever  is  beautiful  or  witty,  startling  or  amus 
ing,  can  not  fail  to  afford  rich  enjoyment  to  minds  of  every  char 
acter,  and  a  pleasant  relaxation  from  more  severe  and  vigorous 
reading." 

GATHERED  TREASURES. — "  A  choice  collection  of  short  and  in 
teresting  articles,  comprising  selections  from  the  ablest  authors. 
Unlike  voluminous  works,  its  varied  selections  afford  amusement 
for  a  leisure  moment,  or  entertainment  for  a  wniter  evening.  It 
is  alike  a  companion  fur  the  railroad  car,  the  library  and  parlor, 
and  lever  fails  to  interest  its  reader." 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

TBE  SPECTATOR. 

1  vol.  royal  8vo,  750  pages,  with  a  portrait  of  Addi- 
flon.  Plain  and  embossed  gilt. 

The  numerous  calls  for  a  complete  and  cheap  edition  of 
this  valuable  work,  have  induced  us  to  newly  stereotype  it, 
in  this  form,  corresponding  in  style  and  price  with  our 
other  books.  Its  thorough  revisions  have  been  committed 
to  competent  hands,  and  will  be  found  complete. 

From  the  Central  Clrist'an  Herald. 

"  One  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  when  there  were 
no  daily  newspapers  nor  periodicals,  nor  cheap  fictions  for 
the  people,  the  SPECTATOR  had  a  daily  circulation  in  Eng 
land.  It  was  witty,  pithy,  tasteful,  and  at  times  vigorous, 
and  lashed  the  vices  and  follies  of  the  age,  and  inculcated 
many  useful  lessons  which  would  have  been  disregarded 
from  more  serious  sources.  It  was  widely  popular.  It 
contains  some  very  excellent  writing,  not  in  the  spasmodic 
moon-struck  style  of  the  fine  writing  of  the  present  day, 
but  in  a  free,  graceful  and  flowing  manner.  It  used  to  be 
considered  essential  to  a  good  style  and  a  knowledge  of 
Belles-Lettres  to  have  studied  the  Spectator,  and  we  are 
certain  our  age  is  not  wise  in  the  selection  of  some  of 
the  substitutes  which  are  used  in  its  stead.  It  should  yet 
be  a  parlor  volume,  which  should  be  read  with  great  profit, 

"But  we  do  not  design  to  criticise  the  book,  but  have 
prefixed  these  few  facts  for  the  information  of  our  readers 
to  a  notice  of  a  new  edition  of  the  work  by  Messrs.  Apple- 
gate  dli  Co.  It  is  entirely  of  Cincinnati  manufacture,  and 
is  in  a  style  very  creditable  to  the  enterprising  house 
which  has  brought  it  out." 


From  the  Cinrimviti  Commercial. 

"  APPLEGATE  &  Co.,  43  Main  street,  have  just  published, 
in  a  handsome  octavo  volume  of  750  pages,  one  of  the 
very  best  classics  in  our  language.  It  would  be  super 
fluous  at  this  day  to  write  a  line  in  commendation  of  this 
wovk.  The  writings  of  Addison  are  imperishable,  and 
win  continue  to  charm  youth  and  age  while  language  lasts." 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

PLUTAECH'S  LIVES. 

With  Historical  and  Critical  Nbtes,  and  a  LIFE  OF  PLU 
TARCH.  Illustrated  with  a  portrait.  Plain  and  embossed 
gilt. 

This  edition  has  been  carefully  revised  and  corrected, 
and  is  printed  upon  entirely  new  plates,  stereotyped  by 
ourselves,  to  correspond  with  our  library  edition  of  Dick's 
Works,  <fec. 

From  the  Naslmlle  and  Louisville  Christian  Advocate. 
"  PLUTARCH'S  LTVES. — This  great  work,  to  which  has 
long  since  been  awarded  the  first  honors  of  literatute,  is 
now  published  complete  in  one  volume  by  Messrs.  Apple- 
gate  &  Co.,  of  Cinciuuati,  and  offered  at  so  low  a  price  as 
to  place  it  within  the  reach  of  all.  This  is  a  desideratum, 
especially  in  this  age  of  'many  books.'  Next  in  impor 
tance  to  a  thorough  knowledge  of  history,  and  in  many 
respects  fully  equal  to  it,  is  the  study  of  well  authenti 
cated  biography.  For  this  valuable  purpose,  we  know  of 
no  work  extant  superior  to  the  fifty  lives  of  Plutarch.  It 
is  a  rare  magazine  of  literary  and  biographical  knowledge. 
The  eminent  men  whose  lives  compose  this  work,  consti 
tute  almost  the  entire  of  that  galaxy  of  greatness  and 
brightness,  which  stretches  across  the  horizon  of  the  dis 
tant  past,  and  casts  upon  the  present  time  a  mild  and 
steady  luster.  Many  of  them  are  among  the  most  illus 
trious  of  the  earth." 

From  the  Ladies'  Repository. 

"  It  is  a  better  piece  of  property  for  a  young  man  to 
own,  than  an  eighty  acre  lot  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  or 
many  hundred  dollars  in  current  money.  We  would 
rather  leave  it  as  a  legacy  to  a  son,  had  we  to  make  the 
choice,  than  any  moderate  amount  of  property,  if  we  were 
certain  he  would  read  it ;  and,  we  are  bound  to  add,  that, 
were  we  now  going  to  purchase  a  copy,  this  edition  would 
have  the  preference  over  every  other  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge." 


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